An Adventure of a Lifetime Pt2: The Lost Chapters
by CoolWhipSD
Summary: Part 2 of 4. When Shonna heads back home, she can't shake her feelings for Kyle. Will she stay true to him? Can Stephen somehow sweep her off her feet? Or will the new cowboy in town succeed in his mission to make her forget about Kyle completely?
1. Prologue: Resisting the Urge!

**A/N: This is part 2 of 3 in my series. I highly recommend going back and reading the previous installment, Kyle in Kanto first. As the title suggests, this is the lost chapters I wrote after having finished 75% of the next story, Shonna in Sinnoh. In addition, the title also alludes to some of the feelings of the main character during this time. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

**x-x-x**

Prologue: Resisting the Urge!

I knew I'd made a mistake from the moment he disappeared from view. My heart suddenly lurched, and the slow breaking that had been going on all day intensified. It actually physically hurt, like I never knew it could.

I leaned over the railing at the back of the ferry. I've never had trouble with seasickness, but now I felt as if I were going throw up right off the side of the ship. I looked up from the choppy water, to see that none of the Kanto region was in sight. The ferry was heading north, the sky was darkening, no one else was on the deck, and with each passing minute I felt more and more sick. I felt raindrops begin to hit my face, washing away the tears.

"Lu!" Riolu sat on my shoulder, looking surprised at the raindrop that fell on his nose.

The darkness only made me feel lonelier. I began to slip into my thoughts of Kyle. I found myself already daydreaming of the moments we shared. The simple things were what I missed the most now. Instead of being on this cold and wet ship, I'd love to be huddled by a campfire as he fixes a pot of beef stew, or spaghetti. I could almost smell his cooking, even in the salty air.

I wanted to be back in the pokemon center, getting ready for bed, fighting over who got to brush their teeth first.

I longed to be back on those docks outside Lavender Town, walking side by side under a veil of moonlight that reflected in the waters around us.

I stared into the seawater below. There was no reflection of the moon. The dark clouds above made sure to hide it.

I remembered just about an hour earlier, when I was telling him I was going to leave. Of course it wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to throw my arms around him and tell I'd go anywhere with him, but I didn't. I left, and I kept telling myself at the time that it's what I had to do.

Another pain erupted through my heart. I was slowly losing my resolve.

"Why did I do it Riolu?" I whispered. "What possessed me to leave now, when we had gotten so close? Was that what I was scared of? To get closer? Is that why I ran from him?" I leaned over the edge of the ship again. I could hear thunder in the distance now. "What am I doing?" Tears welled up in my eyes, making it almost impossible to see inside my purse. I was frantically searching for Vaporeon's pokeball. "I've got to go back!" I grabbed at the pokeball in the bottom of the bag, when a wave jerked the boat to a hard left. I toppled over, making me and Riolu fall on the slippery floor. Vaporeon's pokeball tumbled out of my hand, rolling down the deck.

When I made no attempt to move, Riolu ran on all four paws after the ball. "Lu! Lu!"

I laid my head down on my arm, turning it to look at the other end of the ferry. I didn't see Riolu around, but a young sailor boy, probably only a year older than me approached.

"Miss." The boy reached out his hand to help me. "You shouldn't be out here. You need to get to your room. A storm is coming."

I stood up, refusing to take his help. Once he saw my face, the boy stepped back a bit. Perhaps he'd never seen a girl cry. I could see Riolu now coming back with the pokeball clenched in his jaws. He ran on all fours up my body, climbing up to my shoulder, and dropped the pokeball into my tote bag. "Riolu. You're taking care of me better than I am myself."

"Lu." Riolu smiled.

"I'm supposed to be taking care of you." I pet his head. "I need to be the adult here."

"Miss." I'd almost forgotten the sailor boy was still there. "Can I help you in any way?"

"No thanks." I said coldly. "I don't need anyone." I walked off toward the stairs, knowing it wasn't true. With each step I had to struggle not to turn around and make a flying leap off the deck. I'd almost followed my heart a moment ago, but my brain told me there was no way we'd work out anyway.

I trudged down the stairs, finally remembering why I'd made this decision in the first place. "Riolu, for the longest time, I had a one-sided crush on Kyle. He always teased me about it too. He made jokes like he liked me, but I know I was nothing more than a friend or companion to him. Every single time he played on like he liked me, it only hurt me more to know it wasn't real."

"Lu?" Riolu looked confused at my conversation with him. He probably was, but it helped to have him listen.

"He's going on to compete in another league, but I have a job to get back to. I have to go back and run the day-care center. I have to take care of all the pokemon. I have to move on with my life, just as he will with his." I pulled open the door to my room on the boat. It was quaint, with a bunk bed that reminded me of the pokemon centers, and a single porthole to gaze out. I closed the door behind me and flopped down on the bottom bed. Riolu leaped to the top. "I have to pretend I didn't fall in love with a pokemon master."


	2. A Sinking Feeling!

**A/N: One quick note, from here on out, you'll see the occasional month marker below the chapter title. This is a little different from my other stories, but helps keep a better track of the quickly shifting time in this short story. So be on the lookout for those.**

**x-x-x**

Episode 1: A Sinking Feeling!

_Month One - August_

"The ship will moor in Snowpoint City in approximately 15 minutes." The intercom blared, stirring me from my sleep. I rose, checking my frizzed hair in the mirror. It had been one week on this ferry. I actually could have got off two days before when the boat stopped at Twinleaf Town. Now it was making a loop around the region, stopping at every major city with a port. I'd decided to stop at Snowpoint City for some reason. It was not the closest I could get to my home, but it was good enough. I was severely underdressed for the freezing cold city, but something about that made it more inviting to me now.

I'd went to pokemon school in Snowpoint City for most of my life before I dropped out. I certainly didn't want to go back for that. It was the frozen lake that I wanted to visit. It used to calm me to go up there as a child.

"Arriving at Snowpoint City." The intercom blared once more. I could feel the ship slowly pulling to a stop.

"Well, let's go Riolu." I pat my shoulder, inviting him to hop on.

"Luuuuuu!" Riolu yawned from the top bunk, stretching his arms out. He leaped to my shoulder happily.

I grabbed my bag and we left the small room, headed for the deck. They already had two ramps out, and people were piling in and out. I knew there was no going back after I left this ship. I could still see his face in my mind clearly. He looked sad when I left, and my heart ached once more.

"Lu?" Riolu stared at me as I stopped on the ramp, making people almost knock me over trying to get through. They moaned and groaned at my sudden stop, and a few shoved their way around me.

"Sorry." I said, snapping back to reality and I started moving forward, eventually to the solid and snowy ground of Snowpoint City. "I think you'll really like the Sinnoh region Riolu." I said, trying to get my mind elsewhere. "It's colder, and there's lots of storms, and…" I realized then that nothing I said so far was positive. "Well yeah." I turned to look up at the huge mountain in the distance, that could be seen from anywhere in Sinnoh, Mt. Coronet. Its summit peaked through the clouds, and was invisible at present from some swirling black clouds that surrounded it. "I remember a time when it wasn't like that."

"Lu lu?" Riolu glanced up to the mountain as well.

I couldn't help but have a serious tone. "Looks like it's only gotten worse since I left. I was hoping that storm would have cleared up."

I shivered at the northern air. This flimsy jacket I wore in Kanto would never do. I needed to head to the pokemon center first, so we trekked up the snowy road to the northern part of town, where I knew it rested. It was a small center. When I walked in, an old woman sat behind the front desk, with hair so white, you could barely see the pink tones that remained in it. She looked up and rose unsteadily to greet me. "Can I help you with anything young lady?"

This old woman didn't seem to have much longer to live. I felt bad for her, and it reminded me of John and Mary, who were taking care of the day-care center pretty much by themselves. I would need to get back to them as soon as possible. "No thank you Nurse Joy." I said quietly. "I just need to use the pc."

She coughed. "It's right over there dear." She lifted a crooked finger to point in the corner of the room.

"Thank you." I took a seat at the pc and pulled up item storage. Packed away was my pink pokeball hoodie I'd arrived in Kanto in. I was actually anxious to change into it, not only for the weather, but also because I had bought the jacket I was wearing now because it looked like Kyle's green one. It reminded me too much of him.

I took the hoodie and headed for a bathroom stall. I shoved open the door quickly, almost hitting the young girl that was inside. "Oh!" She jumped back in surprise.

"Oh I'm sorry!" I looked at the girl who was probably the same age as me. She had long brown hair arranged in two thick braids that hung at either side of her face, and deep blue eyes. She was wearing a blue dress, and had a mop and spray bottle in her hands.

"Sorry." She walked around me, struggling with her things. "I was cleaning, but it's all done now." She looked away shyly as she left the room.

"Lu?" Riolu tilted his head at her.

"Yeah that was a little strange." I shrugged, walking into an open stall and locking the door behind me. I hung my jacket and purse on the hook as I slipped my hoodie on over my shirt. Riolu sidestepped around so he never had to leave my shoulder. I felt much warmer already.

I walked back to the pc and sent the jacket home. I also changed out Butterfree's pokeball for Aerodactyl. I still hadn't got to train her yet, but I knew I didn't want to get back on that boat, or hoof it to Solaceon Town. Flying was the best option.

I heard Nurse Joy cough and hack some more as I walked out of the pokecenter. I headed up the road that led to Lake Acuity. It was kind of a hard walk, being uphill and in snow, so I decided to let out Rapidash and ride him up. It was perfect. The flames on him kept me immensely warm.

"Thank Rapidash." I pet his fiery blue mane as we strode along.

"Brrrr…" He whinnied quietly.

Riolu found a comfortable spot, resting in the hood of my sweatshirt. "Lu!"

"Found you a warm spot?" I asked.

"Lu!" Riolu pulled the hood up on him like a blanket.

I laughed, for the first time since I'd left Kanto. "You're cute Riolu."

"Lu lu!" He chimed.

This road was full of memories. I passed by the driveway to the pokemon school, and followed the creek on up to the lake. Any time someone was giving me a hard time, I'd come up here. Back then, the storms weren't as prevalent, and it wasn't as cold in Sinnoh as compared to now. In the summers, I held childhood memories where the creek would be flowing and I could see feebas or magicarp run down it. And now, even though it was late summer, the creek was frozen much like the lake in front of me. There used to be all sorts of wild pokemon that would come drink from some unfrozen puddles in the lake, but there was nothing here today. I didn't even bother getting off Rapidash to look around me. It was a frozen wasteland and a small cavern in the center. It did nothing to make me feel better. If anything, it made me feel worse.

"Let's go." I gently touched my right foot against Rapidash, making him turn around. We headed down the hill without another word.

**x-x-x**

It was almost dark once we'd reached the southern part of town again, and I recalled Rapidash. The ship had left like I thought it might, so I would have to fly out of here. I stood there for a moment, lost in thought as I watched the snow hit the ocean waves.

"Hey there little lady." A man's voice said from behind me. "You lost?"

"In some ways." I sighed, already knowing the kind of guy this was. This part of town attracted the worst kind of scum.

"Well hey," His words were slurred, and I couldn't tell if it was from his heavy country accent or if he might be drunk. "You could always come back to my place."

I was getting taller I know, but I thought it was obvious I was no older than 14. Than again, maybe he knew that. I turned around to face the man. He looked like a cowboy wannabe, sporting a getup similar to what someone from my hometown would wear. He was probably around twenty something, if I had to guess. "It would be in your best interest to leave me alone." I said, reaching in my purse for a pokeball.

"Oh so you're a trainer too?" He tossed out a pokeball from his belt, unveiling a croconaw. "The name's Travis. I'm from Olivine City in Johto. You up for a battle? If I win, I get to take you on a date." He smirked.

"Luuu…" Riolu popped out of my hood and growled at him.

"I wouldn't go anywhere with you!" I spat. I tried to think of what pokemon would be best. Probably Pikachu, but I didn't really want to battle this guy. I wanted to just scare him away. I tossed out Aerodactyl's pokeball without a second thought.

"Dactyl!" Aerodactyl cried, spreading out her wings from the ground, making her appear monstrous. She had to be at least 20 feet tall.

"Oh boy…" Travis cringed and stepped back a bit, and I thought for a second he was going to take off running, but he held firm. "That's a mighty big pokemon you got there."

"Yeah it is." I mocked. "You and your puny croconaw should just get on out of here." I intentionally imitated his overly country accent. Though, it wasn't all an act. Living in Solaceon Town gave me a slight accent naturally.

"Nah. We don't give up. Right Croconaw?" Travis had a wide grin as he turned to his pokemon.

"Naw." The pint-sized alligator imitated his trainer almost to a tee.

"See?" He grinned.

"Aerodactyl!" I cried. "Use whatever moves you know to beat this guy."

Aerodactyl just turned to me with a confused look on her face. "Tyl?"

"C'mon. Just anything." I repeated.

She almost seemed to shrug at me, and remained still.

"Are you telling me you don't know any attacks at all?"

"Dactyl." She nodded.

My heart sunk. I was going to have to start from square one with this pokemon.

Travis laughed. "Are you kidding me? Here I thought you were going to be a challenge."

"I am." I said, recalling Aerodactyl. "Just try this one out." I tossed out Pikachu's pokeball instead.

"That's more like it." Travis laughed. "A cute little ol' pokemon for a cute girl."

I noticed now that our battle had drawn in a small crowd that was whispering around us. But what was really troubling me, was Pikachu's lack of interest in the battle. She seemed distracted, and depressed. I knew why of course. She missed her son.

"Pi cha." She sighed.

"Croconaw!" Travis hooted. "Knock it over with a water gun!"

"Naw naw!" Croconaw cackled as a squirt of water pulsed out of its mouth.

"Dodge!" I commanded.

"Pi." Pikachu turned away as the water hit her dead on.

"Bite!" Now Croconaw lunged for Pikachu, and instead of dodging, she weakly threw her tail out for the croconaw to latch onto. The thing wouldn't let go, and Pikachu didn't put up a struggle. She looked as if she might cry right there on the battlefield.

"Pi…Pi…" She sniffled.

"Jeez." I held a hand over my face, running it through my blonde hair in frustration. I smudged my glasses in the process. "I'm not going to lose to this lame hick."

"That hurt." He held a hand over his heart in a sarcastic way.

"You have no idea about hurt." I grumbled, holding up Pikachu's pokeball. She turned to me with a look of disappointment. "It's okay Pikachu. Return." She sulked back into the light that sealed her inside.

"Lu!" Riolu began to climb out of my hood, but I shoved him back.

"Thanks for the offer Riolu, but you're still too little."

"Lu." He groaned, huddling back into my hood.

I couldn't decide what to do now. I'd already lost two pokemon to his one. I felt as if I'd really lost my touch with battling already.

"She's gonna lose!" A little boy from the crowd yelled.

"Shh." His mother hushed him but secretly nodded.

"I don't even want to do this." I said under my breath. "I just want to go home." I pulled out a pokeball I was fairly confident in. "Go Duchess."

"Purrr…" My persian stretched her slender legs as she hopped out.

"Make quick work of this one too Croconaw!" Travis cried.

"Duchess, attract." I could tell from my tone now, that I was only half-heartedly fighting this battle now. I just hoped it wouldn't affect Duchess.

"Mrrow!" Duchess meowed, giving a quick wink that sent chills up Croconaw's spine. He was frozen with love.

"Now how about you use that move on me?" Travis laughed.

"Enough. Just cut out the crap okay?" I said, fed up with his flirtation. "Duchess! Finish this up with Slash." I could tell my pokemon was at a much higher level then his, so I knew he was going down.

"Pur!" Duchess extended her claws and slashed against the still love struck croconaw.

"Naw…" The alligator fell backward with claw marks and a thud. Travis recalled him, and pulled down on the front of his cowboy hat. He turned on his boots toward the crowd.

"Well, I could go on and beat you, but I don't think I'm making any progress here with you. But at least everybody got a good show right?"

"Yeah!" The crowd cheered.

"Thank you, thank you." He bowed, making the crowd cheer more for him.

"Umm. Hello people?" I grumbled. "Do you all realize I won? He gave up."

"No way! He's awesome!" The little boy stepped forward.

"Thanks little man." Travis flashed a million dollar smile that made some of the young girls in the crowd swoon as he placed his hat on the boy's head, revealing his short black hair. "You take care of that for me okay?"

"Really mister?" The boy held tight to his new cowboy hat.

"Yep. And if you wear that, maybe you can be like me someday."

I took this as sort of an insult, but the rest of the crowd nodded in agreement. "You have an ego like someone else I know." I was reminded of my co-worker Stephen, who was a lot like this guy, only less of a lady-killer.

"Really?" Travis turned to me now as the crowd started to disperse. "And might that be the reason you're not falling for me right now?" He grinned. "You have a boyfriend, right?"

My mind drifted back to Kyle. "Yes." I lied. "He has my heart, and him alone." That part wasn't a lie.

"What a shame." He looked around as the last of the crowd, the boy and his mother left. "And to think he broke your heart."

My eyes widened at his comment. I really didn't like this guy. His brown eyes were staring too deeply at me. Either I was easy to read, or he had a way of seeing how straight through me. I shook off my shock and gave him a stern look. I couldn't afford to look distraught now. It meant vulnerability, and I had to prove to this guy, and myself that I didn't need any man.

"Well, I've gotta go now. I've got some estranged family to visit here in Sinnoh, and they'll be expecting me. Like I said though, if you need a place to stay, they'd welcome you. They're real sweet folks."

"I have a home here you know." I groaned. "I was just on my way."

"Well then don't let me stop ya." He tossed out a pokeball and hopped on the back of a fearow. "If you're ever in Solaceon Town though, give me a holler!" He waved as he took off on the bird, headed east.

"Lu?" Riolu peeped out from the back of my head and watched him fly away.

"Solaceon Town?" My jaw dropped. "That weirdo's headed for Solaceon Town too?" I felt like slamming my head against the nearby lamp post as it lit up beside me. Nothing seemed to be working out for me like I'd hoped. I expelled a deep sigh, releasing Aerodactyl once more.

"Dac?" It crowed.

"So let me get this straight." I put my hands on my hips. "You don't know any attacks. Would you like me to teach you some?"

"Dactyl." Aerodactyl shook her head no.

"So you don't even want to battle at all?"

"Tyl." She growled in disinterest.

"Lu." Even Riolu seemed stunned with her lack of enthusiasm.

"Should have known getting a free pokemon restored from some dusty old amber was too good to be true." I grit though my teeth. "Alright. Can you at least fly?"

"Dac Dactyl." She grinned a toothy grin as she flapped her wings a bit.

"Well, let me climb aboard okay?" I almost slipped climbing up the scaly creature's back, but I eventually found a comfortable place to sit in between her shoulder blades. She rose into the air, and I pulled Riolu out of my hood to hold onto him. "Fly away from the sunset please. That's the way to Solaceon Town."

"Dactyl!" She crowed, flying steadily east.


	3. Brotherly Love!

**x-x-x**

Episode 2: Brotherly Love!

It was still dark when we arrived back in Solaceon Town. As soon as Aerodactyl landed and dropped me off at my house, she took off happily toward the Solaceon Ruins. I cried out to her, but she didn't stop. There was no use in chasing after her, so I just decided if that is where she wanted to be, then she could. It was honestly probably the best place for her to stay anyway. We didn't have enough room for her to fly around at the day-care center.

I pushed the key in and pulled open the door. I'd called mom a couple days ago to let her know when I'd get here, but she wasn't there to greet me. I locked the door back, and trudged through the dark house. I figured she was already asleep, like Delcatty was in the living room floor. I let Duchess out of her pokeball, so she could join him on the rug.

I crept up the stairs quietly, but also without finesse. I felt exhausted from the day, and wanted nothing more than to fall into bed myself. When I reached my room, it looked exactly as it did before I left for Kanto, other than the mound of stuff on my bed. It was things I'd sent here through pc and mom must have not known what to do with them, so she left them on the bed. I sighed, sitting Riolu down on the only empty spot. He was fast asleep.

I pulled up the new outfits and trinkets I'd bought in Cinnabar, carefully hanging each one on a hanger, or moving it to my dresser. There was a pair of new pajamas I bought there, so I changed into them. Lastly was the pink jacket I'd worn in Kanto. I lifted it up to a hanger, when I saw something brown and fuzzy under it. I hung the jacket up over a doorknob, and reached for the plush. It was the Teddiursa doll. I picked it up slowly, hugging it tight against my chest. I couldn't contain myself anymore. I threw myself on the bed and cried into a pillow. The tears wouldn't stop no matter what I did.

"Lu…" Riolu woke and sat one paw on my arm, trying to comfort me.

"Riolu." I rolled over, tossing the bear off the bed. I opened my arms to him, and he curled up beside me.

For all of the previous week, I'd had a dead, dreamless sleep. Tonight, I found myself not sleeping at all.

**x-x-x**

"You're home!" She squealed.

I pretended to be asleep, but my eyes burned when I opened them. "Ahh." I yawned. "Good morning Mom!"

"Lu?" Riolu sat up and rubbed his eyes. He'd fallen asleep in my arms, and I was glad of it.

"What a cutie. He's even more precious in person!" Mom scooped up Riolu in her arms, swinging him around in the air.

"Luuuuuu!" Riolu cheered, clapping his little paws together in laughter.

I smiled. "It's good to be home." I said, trying to put enthusiasm in my voice.

"It's good to have you home." Mom smiled, still cradling Riolu like a little baby. "Everyone's so excited to have you back. You're the talk of the town."

"More like the local gossip." I grumbled. "This town's notorious for that."

"Well, whatever you want to call it." She sat Riolu down beside me as I sat up in the bed. "But the newspaper wants to get an interview with you. It'd make a great article for the Pokémon News Press."

I sighed. "A certain editor in chief wouldn't be behind that would she?"

She shuffled on her feet nervously. "Well it's true I was the one who suggested it, but everyone at the office agreed!"

"Fine, but not right now. I need a little time to get adjusted." I threw my legs off the bed and got up to find a change of clothes. "Get back into the swing of things, you know?"

"Take your time. Just try to stop by before the end of the week." Mom couldn't stop smiling as she opened the door to leave. Suddenly a beige and purple blur shoved open the door almost knocking her back. "Whoa!" She shouted as Duchess and Delcatty pounced through the doorway.

"Pur!"

"Del!"

The pair of giant cats leaped onto the bed, nearly knocking poor Riolu off, and I had to run to catch him.

"Lu!" Riolu buried his face in my chest, looking afraid of the pair.

"Oh c'mon Riolu. You remember Duchess right?" I pet my Persian's head, making her purr in response. Delcatty was giving a jealous stare, so I had to alternate back and forth to pet him as well.

"They missed you too Shonna." Mom said as she stood in the doorway. "I'm leaving for work. Lock the door on your way out. You're going to work today too right?"

"Yep. I'll be at the day-care center." I nodded.

"Have a good day then. Don't let Stephen pick on you too much." She winked.

"Right." I laughed as she headed downstairs.

Riolu hopped down to the bed, eyeing the pair of cats as they headed down the stairs after mom.

"Riolu." I turned around, digging a t-shirt and overalls out of my dresser. I didn't turn back around while getting them on. "Duchess won't hurt you. You know that. And Delcatty, I know you've never met him, but he's a big softy. Well, at least he is now. He wasn't that way as a Skitty, but he's nice now."

I turned back around to see Riolu had drug the stuffed Teddiursa doll up onto the bed and was wrestling around with it. "Lu lu!" He laughed.

I sighed. "Come on Riolu. I've got work to do now."

"Lu?" He tilted his head at me cutely, but bounded to his usual spot on my shoulder.

**x-x-x**

A little bell shaped like a chingling went off above the door as I walked into the day-care center. Almost as if routine, I grabbed the clipboard of visiting pokemon and flipped through it. It looked like Mary had jotted down all my pokemon I'd had sent through pc. Vaporeon, Butterfree, and Pikachu. While on the ferry, I'd had them sent here, and I sent Persian home to be with Delcatty. I decided to keep Rapidash and Riolu at my side at all times. It's always good to have some pokemon handy.

"Well Riolu, the door was unlocked, so somebody's here." I wrapped the green apron we were supposed to wear around me, tying it behind my back.

"Shonna? Is that you?" The elderly woman I knew as Mary, walked out from the back room, Pikachu remained right at her heels.

"Well there's one of my pokemon." I kneeled down to pet Pikachu, and Riolu hopped down to the ground in the process.

"Pika pi." Pikachu smiled.

"This little one refused to go outside with the others. She stayed inside and helped me out." Mary looked down at Pikachu.

"When I first met her she was taking care of a day-care center in Kanto." I pet behind Pikachu's ear. "Do you like it here?"

"Pika." She smiled again, giving me hope that maybe if she threw herself into some work around here, she might forget Pichu.

My heart suddenly lurched. I released that's exactly what I was doing as well.

"You alright dear?" Mary helped me up. "You turned pale."

"Sorry Mary." I looked around. "Is John not here today?"

Mary's face saddened. "He's turned ill recently. He hasn't been able to come in for the past month."

"Is he okay Mary?" I asked with concern. John was always so nice, and I hated to hear he was sick. Mary was nice too, but she could be bitter at times.

"He's fine." She chuckled a bit. "We're just not getting any younger you know? But with you back here, maybe now we can take a break. You and Stephen can cover us and I can stay home and take care of John more."

"Yeah." I didn't know what to say. "Speaking of which, where is the lazy bum? I know when I left he was just volunteering, but now he's getting a paycheck. He should be here."

"He's going to be a bit late today." Mary absently touched her gray hair. "Shonna, do you know much about his family?"

"Mary, if this is some ploy to try and hook us up again…"

"No seriously. I want to know."

"Well," I watched Riolu peek out a window. Pikachu joined him, looking out at the pokemon. "His family was originally from Johto, but his parents got a divorce. I guess his dad stayed there in Johto. His mom took Stephen and remarried a columnist at the paper Mom works at here. Then they his little brother Evan. " That was more information then I cared to know about Stephen, but growing up in the same town meant I knew it whether I wanted to or not.

"And do you know of his older brother?" She asked with intrigue.

"No." My eyebrows rose. "I didn't know he had one."

"His older brother stayed in Johto to help out his dad with the farm." Mary looked out the window now as well. "He very rarely visits, but he's in today."

"So that's why Stephen's late?" I shrugged. "I guess that's understandable."

Mary turned to me and smiled. "He's staying for a while. I'm surprised you didn't know though. Your mom called Stephen's family and asked that he make sure you made it off the boat safely, since you both were on the same ferry."

"She did?" I asked bewildered.

"Yep." Mary headed for the door. "He's looking to make some money before he heads back home. So he's going to be working here for a while with you and Stephen. Make sure to show him the ropes, though I'm sure he'll be fine. Running a ranch is pretty impressive work. I'm going to go back home and check on John. I'll swing by later okay?" She slipped into her red coat hung by the door and walked out.

"As if I had a choice." I laughed. "Great. I'll be stuck here with two guys. One of which I know is a real player." I turned to Riolu and Pikachu. "You two will take care of me though right?"

"Lu!" Riolu put one arm out with excitement.

"Pi." Pikachu laughed with a bit of static in her cheeks.

A bell rang above the door, and I could see Stephen wander in with his burly body covered up in a football jersey and jeans. "Shonna! There's my girl!" He rushed up to hug me, but I held my out to stop him. "I missed you. You look good!"

I shoved a broom and apron into Stephen's hands. "Get to work."

"So demanding." He winked, slipping the apron over his head.

"Get to work." I repeated. "Where's the new trainee? I need to show him the ropes."

"Bro's already out back." Stephen pointed over his shoulder to the door to the field. "He wanted to jump right into work. Not sure why." He shuffled his broom around with little effort.

"He what?" I slapped my forehead in frustration. "There's a certain way things run around here!" I rushed for the door, with Riolu in hot pursuit. "I won't have some lamebrain brother of yours screwing things up!"

"Rio! Lu!" Riolu imitated me with his arms crossed as I walked out into the field.

I could see the pokemon all sitting around happily munching away at pokekibble in their bowls. The door to the supply shed was wide open. "Hey you!" I cried out as I walked into the shed.

And there he stood. Clad in cowboy boots, tight jeans and a button-up shirt. He had a new cowboy hat on and a 40lb bag of pokekibble draped over his shoulder. He glanced over at me with a smile as he sat the bag down. "Well howdy!"

"Lu?" Riolu fell over in shock to all four paws.

My jaw dropped. Now that I thought about it, it made sense, but I still closed my eyes and reopened them just to make sure I was seeing things right. "Oh my God." I groaned. "You're the brother that's going to be working here?"

"In case you forgot, the name's Travis." He held out his hand, in a motion for me to handshake with him. I didn't oblige. "For such a pretty thing, you're not all that friendly."

"You were supposed to make sure I got off the boat okay? Same guy?" I had to ask all this, because it still didn't seem possible to me that the same guy was also Stephen's brother.

"Yeah. And I'll tell you what, you were mighty hard to track down." He laughed, dusting off his pants. "Then again, all I had to go by was Stephen's description of 'a hot blonde chick'. I still wasn't sure if I had the right girl, but I reckon I did."

My shoulders sank. "Guess that means I'm working with two players." I grumbled. "Well, come inside and get an apron at least. It's uniform here."

"Alrighty." He laughed, closing the shed and following me inside.

"Lu." Riolu looked uneasy as he followed close behind me.

I tossed an apron to Travis once inside. Stephen swept quietly in the corner, eyeing me.

"This thing's kind of girly." Travis held it up to his body with a look of disgust.

"Nothing I can do about that." I leaned against the counter. "Just hurry and get it on so I can get to training you."

"I like the sound of that." He grinned, slipping the green apron over his head.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You can watch me work today, then I'll let you do things tomorrow."

"I like the sounds of that too." He crossed his arms with that same grin on his face.

"Right on bro." I heard Stephen snicker. I gave him a glare that made him go back to his quiet sweeping.

"Anyway, starting off, you'll come in and get your apron, and sign in here." I pointed to a pink clipboard. "This way Mary and John will know when you came in." I leaned over the counter to reach for the blue clipboard. "This one is a roster for all the pokemon staying here. We need to take this out in the mornings and make sure everyone's here." I walked out with Riolu and Travis right behind.

Walking around the field, I checked off the pachirisu and aron that were staying with us from visiting trainers. The only other ones were my own. Vaporeon was happily playing in the pond. Butterfree was close by, floating around some cattail plants. After checking them off on the list, I made sure to give them a little attention. They happily greeted me, floating and jumping all around me.

"Lu!" Riolu hopped on Butterfree's back for a short ride around the pond.

"Por!" Vaporeon leaned up to let me pet her smooth wet head.

"I missed you guys. Sorry it took a while for me to get here, but I wanted to make sure you all got the attention you needed while I was on my way up here."

"Free free!" Butterfree floated over to me, giving me a brief hug with its little arms.

"Do you both like it here?" I marked off Pikachu from the list, since I just saw her inside. "It's a good way for me to be able to see you everyday. And there's always food."

"Por por!" Vaporeon leaped into the pond, swimming around almost invisibly in the water.

"Free!" Butterfree nodded, letting Riolu slide off his back and into my arms.

"Lu!" Riolu laughed.

"Riolu, why don't you stay out here and play with the others?" I sat him down on the grass. "I've still got a lot of work to do."

"Lu." He looked hesitant, but couldn't resist going over to check out the new friends at the center. The pachirisu and aron happily chased him in a game of tag.

"You're awfully kind to your pokemon." Travis said, watching me closely. "Now if only I can make you as kind to me."

"Fat chance." I mumbled. "Sorry, but you're my co-worker. Nothing else."

Travis put a hand to his chin. "But I'll be staying here for six months, so that's plenty of time to win you over."

"Six months?" I whined. "Really?"

"Really." He nodded. "I'm earning a little extra cash here, then I'm headed back to Johto to compete in the Johto League."

"The Johto League?" My heart pounded. I remembered Kyle saying that's where he was headed.

"I'm going to do great too." Travis held his head high. "I already have six badges."

"Is that a fact?" I said, unimpressed. "I am a little surprised that you like pokemon that much. Stephen can't stand them, and Evan isn't good with them either."

"Well, we were raised different." Travis frowned. "I love my pokemon."

"That's nice." I said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Well uh, moving on, the next thing to do would be loading up the bowls with pokekibble, but it looks like you took care of that already."

"That'd be true." He put his hands on his hips. "Did I do a good job?"

"Sure." I said, flipping through my clipboard. "The man who dropped off the aron bought a package which includes a bath, so later on I'll have to do that. He's supposed to be back around 5 to pick it up."

"I can help." Travis beamed.

"Yeah umm… we'll see." I said, taking the clipboard back inside. "Anyway, until then, I've got some paperwork to organize. You can help Stephen tidy up the place, or go spend time with the pokemon. If anyone comes in though, come over and I'll show you how to sign in their pokemon."

"You're good. You know your way around here well, for a girl so young." He smiled.

"It doesn't even seem like you've been gone a year." Stephen chimed in.

I sat down at the front counter, absently shuffling through some papers. "I've helped out around here for pretty much my whole life. I know the drill." I glanced up at Travis. "You can take a 30 minute break every 5 hours, and let me know if you need anything, or have any questions."

"I have a question." He said quickly.

I looked back down at the stack of files that needed to be put away. "Yes?"

"Will you go on break with me?"

I didn't know what to say to this. "Why?"

"I don't know, I just thought we could go out for lunch or something."

"No." I said, looking down again. "I always run home for lunch."

"Okay." He didn't seem phased. "Maybe another time." He walked back down the hallway, headed toward Stephen.

I sighed. "It's going to be a long day. Actually, a long six months." I got up and took some old files to the file cabinet, which Pikachu hopped on top of to open for me. "Thanks Pikachu."

"Pi pika." She sat happily on the file cabinet, looking for any odd jobs I could give her.

**x-x-x**

It was nearly 4, and I hadn't taken a break yet. I was too afraid one of the bothersome brothers would try to play a move on me. Plus there was so much to do since I'd been gone. I always used to shoot for taking a break at 12:30, so that I'd get there at the same time as mom. She'd always fix something quick to eat for us. I couldn't cook much past a sandwich, so I knew now I was out of luck.

My stomach growled loudly, and I couldn't seem to control it.

"Shut up." I groaned. "I've got to finish some things first." I stood up, walking back out to the field. Pikachu followed me into the supply shed, and grabbed a bottle of soap for me. I filled up a big metal tub with water. "Pikachu," I took the bottles from her and sat them outside. "Could you go fetch Aron?"

"Pikapi." Pikachu nodded, heading out to the field.

I laughed at myself. "Man, I should have filled up the tub outside. That was dumb of me. Hunger must be getting the best of me." I pulled on a handle of the tub, trying to will the heavy thing outside the shed. I was making slow progress, and probably losing a lot of the water.

Travis came from around me and lifted up the tub as if it were nothing. "Where do you want it?"

"Right over there." I pointed to an area almost out to the fence line, which he sat it down at obediently. I poured a couple capfuls of soap into the tub, making it sudsy. I swirled around the bubbles, but the water was cold. "We need to heat the water up. You never know how pokemon will react to a bath, but typically they prefer warmer water."

"I'm on it." Travis pulled out a pokeball, letting out a Rapidash. It took me by surprise to see it. It was smaller than mine, and had bright red flames. It took one look at the water, and let out a few embers to warm it.

"You have a Rapidash?" I asked.

"Yeah. You have to have one when you have run a ranch." He pat his Rapidash gently. "He's a big help there."

"They're a big help here too." I pulled a pokeball out of my pocket, thinking about letting him out, but I stuffed it back down.

"You have one too?" He asked as he recalled his.

"Yes." I answered as Pikachu approached with a very weary and dirty looking Aron. "Don't be scared Aron. It's okay." I dug out a sponge. "Has your trainer not given you a bath before?"

Aron shook nervously.

"Pi pika." Pikachu looked as though she were trying to comfort the young aron. She placed a paw on his back.

"Well regardless, there's nothing to be afraid of. Come here." I opened my arms, and Aron climbed into my lap reluctantly. "Travis, go get me a sponge, would you?"

"Right!" He took off for the shed, fetching a yellow sponge.

"You're part rock type, so you probably don't like water right?"

Aron nodded at me as I took the sponge. "Ron."

I dabbed the sponge in the water, gently sliding it down its back. "Does that hurt?"

"Ron? Ron!" Aron looked surprised that it didn't.

"You have a protective layer of steel, so this shouldn't feel bad." I smiled as I wiped away some mud from its face. "You let me know if it does though, okay?"

"Ron ron!" Aron seemed to be enjoying the sponge bath.

Travis leaned over to watch. "That's a great idea."

"Sometimes certain types are afraid of the water, so you have to improvise. Especially fire types. They're the worst." I chuckled as Aron wiggled his little legs at me. "Aron, would you like to try the tub now?"

"Ron." It nodded skittishly.

I lifted him up with both hands held tightly to him as he dipped his feet into the water.

"Ron! Aron!" Aron kicked his feet in fear, splashing me with sudsy water. Some of it got past my glasses and burned my eyes, but I held him tight, lifting him out. I had to wait a minute before I could look at him. He seemed fine, just scared.

"Here. Let me help." Travis took the sponge as I held Aron and softly bathed the little pokemon. It seemed to calm him as I got his lower half down into the water.

"Aron." Aron looked stunned.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Ron!" The pokemon happily splashed its feet in the water.

"You're looking pretty good and shiny!" I commented, lifting him up out of the water. "Hey Vaporeon!" I called out. "Can we get a mist going over here? Just a little. Don't scare him."

"Por!" Vaporeon heard my command and let out a light spray from the pond. The mist carried in the wind to the dripping Aron, rinsing the suds off of him.

"Ron!" Aron squealed, shaking off on me.

"Hang on." I laughed. "Travis, go get a couple towels please."

"Right away." He tossed the sponge into the tub and rushed back inside.

"Shoot. I forgot to tell him where they were." I said as I watched him leave, but within seconds, he was back out with two fuzzy green towels. "You read my mind." I grabbed one of the towels and buffed Aron down with it, drying him off.

"Actually I asked Stephen where you kept them." He smiled.

I swaddled Aron up in the towel and handed him to Travis, taking the other towel to dry myself off with. Aron had soaked me during the bath. I ran it down my hair, trying to squeeze out the moisture. "Thanks for the other towel." I looked to him. "Will you take him on inside now? His trainer will be here soon and I don't want him to dirty himself up again."

"Sure." He carefully carried Aron inside the center.

"Hey Riolu!" I yelled, frizzing my hair out with the towel. "You need a bath too you know!"

"Lu? Lu!" Riolu hid behind Pachirisu, pulling the little squirrel's tail in front of his face.

"Chi pa!" Pachirisu jerked back its tail, exposing Riolu.

"Fine. Not today, but you do need one sometime!" I dumped over the water from the metal tub and brought all the supplies back into the shed. I rushed back inside the center when I saw a gentleman heading in through the main entrance.

"Yes sir." Travis held the sparkling Aron out to him. "We did everything as asked."

"He looks great! He's so young, I wasn't sure if you'd be able to actually give him a bath. But you did a great job." He took the Aron in his arms and cradled it. "He has a nice polish to him too!"

"Ron ron." Aron smiled at him.

"Yep!" Travis held out a paper from the blue clipboard. "Now if you'll just sign here saying you received your pokemon."

"He sure figures his way around here quick." I mumbled, walking behind the counter. "Now if only Stephen would catch on." I peeked around Travis's shoulder to make sure the signature's matched on drop-off and pick-up. We had some people come in a couple years ago trying to steal pokemon like that, so it was our policy to check now.

"Everything looks in order." Travis scrolled his finger down the paper. "According to this you owe $500." He turned to me. "Is that true?"

"Yeah." I nodded, wiping water off my arms.

"Here you go." The man dug out some bills from his pocket and sat them on the counter. I watched closely as Travis counted them and placed each one in the appropriate spot in the register.

I was very glad to have sturdy overalls on to cover my soaked t-shirt right now, but when Stephen rounded the corner, my good fortune ended.

"Whoa!" He looked me up and down. "You're all wet! That's hot!"

The man with the Aron winced in disapproval.

"Stephen!" I hissed. "Quit being a idiot in front of the customers!"

"Sorry Shonna." He apologized, but didn't turn his gaze away from me.

"Thank you sir." Travis tore off a receipt, handing it to the man. He turned and walked out with a sour look.

"Can't you keep your thoughts to yourself Stephen?" I groaned. "That guy may not come back here thanks to you."

"What? I can't help it that you look hot!" Stephen turned to Travis. "Am I right bro, or what?"

"There's a time and place for that Stephen." Travis answered. "And it wasn't then." Even so, I couldn't help but notice that now that the man was gone, Travis was eyeing me as well.

"Well geez! Sorry!" Stephen huffed off with his broom, mindlessly sweeping away.

I sighed as Mary strolled in. "Hi Mary. How's John?"

"Not any better, but I fixed him some soup. It seemed to brighten his day."

My stomach growled loudly at the mention of food. It was 5:15 and I still hadn't ate. "I'm going on break." I ran out in embarrassment. "Everyone probably heard that."

**x-x-x**

I just went to the pokemart and got a sandwich on my break. The rest of the day went uneventfully. Travis, Mary and Stephen left at 6:00, and I closed up the center at 7:00. I locked up the doors and headed for home swiftly.

"Lu!" Riolu crawled under the fence and ran after me.

"Riolu, if today is any indication of the rest of my life, I really regret my decision." I stomped toward the house, walking uphill. "It was such an annoyance working with those two. I miss when it was just me, Mary and John. One of them is bad enough, but two?" I kicked up some dirt. "That Travis guy's trying to act all nice and stuff, but he's just a perverted loser too."

"Lu lu." Riolu nodded in agreement.

"And having to train him really messed up my schedule." I held a hand over my stomach. "I hope mom's home with something on the stove. I'm starving."

The door was locked, dashing my hopes. I unlocked it and walked in to see a note on the fridge. It read: 'I missed you at lunch Shonna. I'll be working late, so don't wait up on me. There's some leftover lasagna in the fridge if you want it. – Mom.'

The post-it note stuck to my fingers when I tried to throw it away.

"Lu?" Riolu hopped up on the table as I heated up the pan in the microwave. There was not a lot left, so I just grabbed a spoon and dug in. Riolu sniffed at it questionably. He took a tiny nibble off the end and cringed at it. "Rio!" He stuck out his tongue.

"Yeah, it's not very good now. It probably was better at lunch." I tossed the spoon into the pan and stood up. "I've got to learn how to cook Riolu. If I could do that, I wouldn't have to rely on anyone for anything.

"Riolu." He nodded, pushing the pan away from him.

"Let's see what I can do." I smiled, throwing my arms into the cupboards, grabbing at lots of different things. "Some flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, oh this looks good!" I grabbed at various spices and ingredients, and sat them down on the counter.

"Lu!" Riolu hopped over to my shoulder while I pulled a pot and pan out.

"Hmm… this pan has interesting molds." I turned to Riolu. "I'm turning the stove on, so don't jump down here."

"Lu lu." He nodded.

I poured the dry ingredients in the pot quickly, making a mushroom cloud of the mixture come back up at me. Riolu coughed and wiped at his now white face.

"Riolu." I laughed. "Let's see. What else can I add?" I walked over to the fridge, discovering a fresh container of cream. "Why not?" I dumped it into the pot, only to find it was starting to smoke. "Crap!" I fumbled in the drawer for a spoon and stirred like mad, making some of it slosh out. "Okay, calm down." I slowed the stirring down, and eventually the mixture started gaining some consistency. "It needs something. Some more flavor I think. Riolu, could you go get me some pecha berries off the tree in the backyard?"

"Lu!" Riolu held up his paw in a salute as he hopped through the cracked door.

I alternated between stirring and trying to clean up the area. Riolu arrived back with the berries shortly after.

"Thanks Riolu!" I pulled out a cheese grater and began grating the pecha berries into the pot.

"Lu." Riolu leaned over from atop my shoulder to stir the spoon around.

"Be careful." I warned as I sat the grater down.

Once it got to a certain thickness, I poured it into my oddly shaped pan, dripping it along the side. "Mom's going to kill me for making such a mess of her kitchen." I wiped off the sticky mess with a rag before putting it in the oven with a timer of twenty minutes.

"Luuuuu…" Riolu leaned in to look at the oven. "Lu lu?"

"Nope. I'm completely guessing at all this. But hey, we learn from practice right?"

"Lu…" He looked unsure.

"Shonna!" Mom's voice echoed through the whole house. "You left the door standing open! Don't do that." She walked in to see sloppy pink gunk dripped all around the kitchen. Me and Riolu tried to put an innocent smile on our faces. "What are you doing?" She yelled. "What is all this?"

"I was hungry, so I thought I'd try to cook something."

"Why?" She blanched. "You went all that time in Kanto without knowing how to cook, and now you want to learn? Couldn't you just eat out like you did before? It's not like you don't have tons of money from nearly winning the league." She began cleaning as she talked, and I'm not sure she realized she was doing it.

"I want to learn." I said, trying to help out. She still had no idea that I had a guy who would cook for me in Kanto the whole time. I stared into the oven, watching the pink blobs rise. "He was good at it." I mumbled.

"What'd you say?" Mom dug out a mop and began wiping at the floor.

"Nothing." I leaned against the wall, feeling like more of a nuisance than anything. Both my heart and my stomach ached as I imagined Kyle beside me, warming up a pot of soup over campfire.

"Purrrr-sian!" Duchess suddenly ran into the kitchen, leaning up toward the oven, sniffing away.

"Be careful Duchess! It's hot!" I pushed her down to the floor and noticed Delcatty come in sniffing too. Then, Riolu's nose lifted to the air as the timer went off on the oven.

"What did you make anyway?" Mom watched as I pulled out the pan slowly, potholder in hand. "Is that my copper jello molds? Shonna! You shouldn't have put that in the oven."

"Why not?" I sat the tray down, closing up the oven. "It looks fine."

"If it were tin-lined it could have melted all over." She groaned.

"Oh sorry." I looked down at the little pink cakes. "I didn't know."

Riolu, Duchess, and Delcatty all starting inching their way closer.

I sprinkled some powdered sugar and leftover pecha berry dust on the treats. "They look good, but let's see how they taste." Once it cooled, I popped one in my mouth, only to be quickly reaching for a paper towel to spit it out in.

"Let me see." Mom took one and ate a tiny nibble off of it. "You know what? It's gross, but it reminds me of something. I remember! This is just like the article we wrote last year on poffins!"

"Poffins?"

"Yeah. They're little treats you can make for pokemon." She watched as Duchess and Delcatty began drooling on the floor.

"I was trying to cook for myself, not pokemon!" I whined.

"Lu…" Riolu nearly fell off my shoulder trying to reach for one.

"Okay fine, here." I put one between his little paws and watched him munch away at it.

"Lu… lu!" He grinned, devouring every crumb of it.

"Whoa." My eyes widened as Duchess and Delcatty pawed at the counter. "Okay you two." I leaned down and held one out in each hand for them to try.

"Purrrrr!" Duchess beamed, licking her lips after eating it, but Delcatty didn't seem to care for it all that much.

"From what we learned in the article," Mom spoke. "Pokemon have different personalities, and because of that like different kinds of poffins."

"I see." This peeked my interest.

"Del del." Delcatty walked away to his water bowl, but Duchess and Riolu were begging for more.

"There's one left, so you two can split it." I broke the poffin in half, giving it to each of them. They munched away at it.

"It makes me feel good that at least you guys like it, though that wasn't what I intended." I laughed.

Mom shook her head at me. "Shonna, I'm going on to bed. Try and be cleaner if you decide to do this again, okay?"

"Okay!" I smiled as Riolu and Duchess pawed at me for more. "Maybe tomorrow you two."


	4. The Depressing Interview!

**x-x-x**

Episode 3: The Depressing Interview!

I slept only a little that night, but it was better than none. I woke up early that morning, sleepily cooking more poffins. This time I tried to be cleaner, and added a can of pokemon food into the mix. I crumbled it up with the spoon, breaking up the brown clumps. I figured as long as I was fixing them for the pokemon, they may as well be getting some nutrients out of it as well. I hoped it wouldn't affect the taste. It certainly didn't seem to affect the smell, as it had stirred Duchess from her catnap and had her wagging her tail by the oven.

"I'm fixing more this time, so you can have some."

"Pur-sian!" She meowed as I stroked her head.

"Luuuu…" Riolu yawned, holding a paw over his mouth like a human, walking down the stairs on only his hind legs. I'd noticed him walking like that much more lately, as apposed to on all fours. Then, he tripped and flopped down the stairs with a thud.

"Oh! Riolu!" I rushed over to him, scooping him up.

"Lu lu." He held his head but smiled.

"You okay? Be careful little guy." I nuzzled his soft body against my face, making him squeal in delight.

"Lu lu lu!" He laughed.

I placed him up on my shoulder and pulled the poffins out of the oven.

Duchess demanded hers right away, not even allowing them to cool. I made Riolu wait.

"Pur!" Duchess grinned widely, licking away the crumbs.

"Hey Delcatty!" I yelled into the living room where he was curled up on the sofa. "Want one?"

"Del del." Delcatty shook his head and went back to sleep.

"Fine, but I'm going to work hard at making one that even you like." I blew on Riolu's poffin before handing it to him.

"Lu!" He shoved it down his throat, barely chewing. "Lu!"

"Is it good? I added some of your regular food to it. It didn't make it taste bad, did it?"

"Pur-siaaaaan!" Duchess rubbed against my legs, and Riolu hugged my neck.

"Wow." I was sort of stunned by their reactions. "Okay then! I'll keep trying different things, but thanks for your opinions!" I tossed the leftover poffins into a box and headed out the door.

I ran down the hill, making the short jog to the day-care center. Though it didn't make much sense, I'd considered buying a bicycle recently. I didn't need it when I had Rapidash and everything I needed was within walking distance, but it still would be cool to race down the hill on one, having the wind whip through my blonde hair.

When I got in the center, I signed in and was surprised to see Stephen and Travis already there, but I was a little late from baking all morning. "Hi guys." I said, trying to be friendly.

"Hi Shonna!" Stephen grinned his goofy grin at me.

"Howdy." Travis smirked.

I laid the box of poffins on the counter. Pikachu crawled up to sniff at them almost immediately. Riolu hopped down to join her. "Let's see… no new pokemon staying with us right?" I grabbed the pink clipboard and flipped through the papers attached to it. In the corner of my eye, I spotted Stephen sneak up and open the box of poffins.

"Did you make these for me babe?" He tossed one into his mouth and chewed away. "They're not bad."

I stared at him shocked. I wanted to say something to stop him, but I couldn't get past his stupidity. I watched in horror as Travis picked up one as well. He held it up to his nose and smelled of it, before his eyes went wide.

"Umm…" Travis put the poffin back in the box. "I don't think you should've ate that."

"You don't want yours?" Stephen scooped up another and chucked into his mouth. "My hot girl made these for me!"

Jaw dropped, Travis and I stared at him.

"I didn't make those for you Stephen. They're for the pokemon." I gasped out. "They have a can of pokemon food in them too."

"What?" Stephen turned pale, reaching for the trashcan. It was too late though, he'd already swallowed most of the second one. "Gross!"

I couldn't help but laugh now. "I thought you said you liked them!"

"Lu lu lu!" Riolu giggled.

Even Travis couldn't help but snicker at him before turning to me. "That was a good one Shonna."

"I didn't mean too!" I laughed.

"Even so…" He chuckled.

"It's not funny!" Stephen suddenly clutched his stomach. "Oh no." He rushed for the bathroom.

"Gosh." Now I felt a little bad, though I thought he might be faking it to get out of work for the day. Travis just shook his head.

"Let's go on and do the morning routine." He grabbed the box of poffins and followed me out to the field.

"Pika!" Pikachu chased after him.

"Here you go little one." Travis knelt down and gave her a poffin.

"Piiiiii!" She squealed when she bit into it. Apparently she liked it too.

"Vaporeon! Butterfree!" I called out. "Come see if you guys like these!"

"Free!" Butterfree flew out of nowhere and hugged my face, knocking Riolu off.

"Whoa Butterfree!" My voice was muffled under the big bug's wings.

"Lu!" Riolu huffed at him.

"Free free!" Butterfree looked at him apologetically.

"Por!" Vaporeon happily took the poffin from Travis's hands and gobbled it down. When she did, she didn't seem thrilled with it and stuck out her tongue.

"Hmm…" I watched as Butterfree ate his slowly.

"Free free." He nodded his head in a nonchalant way as he ate.

"Pacha?" The pachirisu staying on our ground peeped out from behind a bush.

"Here you go Pachirisu!" I tossed a poffin to him. "Give it a try."

"Pachi?" He sniffed at it, and took a lick. A big smile crossed his face as he took the poffin in his paws and devoured it.

"That sure is somethin'." Travis closed the box up and handed it to me. "This is just my observation, but it seems like the smaller and cuter pokemon like them more."

"My Persian back home loves them too. She's quite large." I stuck a finger to my forehead. "But when she was a still a meowth she was really small and cute. So maybe evolving hasn't changed that for her."

"If you could make one of those that all your pokemon would like…"

"That would be awesome!" I smiled. "I'm going to try to." My pokemon all stood around me smiling. "I'm sure they don't mind being taste testers."

"Unlike Stephen!" Travis laughed.

I giggled, thinking of it again. "Travis, go get the regular pokemon food and fill the bowls please."

"Yes ma'am." He ran to the shed and filled each bowl outside. The pokemon ran for them. He also went in the barn and filled bowls in there.

"That's good. That way they'll have some for later." I whispered as he came back. "Now we have something different to do today."

"Another bath?" He asked.

"Nope. We've got some training to do. And I don't mean you newbie."

"Training?"

"That's right." I picked up the pachirisu once he had filled his belly with food. "The trainers don't pay us just to baby-sit them."

"Chi pa?" It squeaked.

"I see." Travis nodded. "But how do you find out what a pokemon's moves are if you've never trained them?"

"You'll find out." I motioned for Butterfree. "You'll take my Butterfree to work with, but if you do anything wrong, you better believe I'll let you know." I leaped the fence holding tight to Pachirisu. "I like to go across the road when I train, that way we don't disturb the other pokemon."

Travis followed behind me, as well as Butterfree and a very jealous looking Riolu.

"Riolu! Stay there! I need to work with this pokemon right now." I yelled.

"Lu lu." He glared at the Pachirisu in my arms and leaned over the fence to watch.

"Silly thing." I sat Pachirisu down and kneeled down to his level. "Travis, the easiest way to find out their moves is to simply ask. So go do that." I looked back to Pachirisu. "Pachirisu, can you show me what you can do?"

"Chi pa!" The pachirisu nodded, showing me a charm, spark, and quick attack. I kept a watchful eye on butterfree the whole time. He showed Travis his Confusion, Psychic, Silver Wind and Poisonpowder. Travis jumped back when Butterfree misted the powder toward him.

"Ready?" I asked, standing up again. "Let's battle!"

"Battle?" Travis looked uneasy.

"Yeah sure. You were so confident when you fought me before, so why not?"

"I was just…" He smiled. "Worried for the little Pachirisu. I mean, Butterfree seems to be on a much higher level than him."

"You worry about yourself." I pointed to Butterfree. "Now Pachirisu! Start off with charm!"

"Chi pachi!" Pachirisu danced about cutely. Butterfree smiled at him, resisting the urge to float in a dance with him. My Butterfree was such a free spirit.

"Yet another attack I'd like you to use on me." Travis smiled.

"Ugh. Here I'd almost forgotten your womanizing ways."

"Womanizing?" He huffed. "Okay Butterfree, use Confusion!"

"Spark!" I cried.

The pair of pokemon released rays of light. Of course Butterfree's attack was stronger, but I was surprised to see Pachirisu's blue lightening bolt had brought Butterfree to the ground.

"Get up and use Silver Wind!" Travis yelled.

"Strike it with quick attack!"

"Pachi!" Pachirisu darted forward, hitting Butterfree before he could get off the ground.

"Free!" Butterfree fell back, and though I knew he was nowhere near fainting, I cut the battle short.

"That's enough." I pat Pachirisu's head. "Great Job Pachirisu. Go play for a while."

"Pacha!" He ran back to the field.

"You too Butterfree!"

He floated back to the day care center as well.

"Is that it?" Travis put his hands at his waist.

"No. We just need to switch them up and make sure they all have a chance." I waved toward the field, making Riolu's ears perk. "Hey Vaporeon! Pikachu! Get over here!"

"Lu lu." Riolu grumbled.

Vaporeon took my side, and Pikachu shocked around Travis's feet.

"Okay I get it!" Travis jumped. "You know Thunder attacks."

"Pi pi." Pikachu nodded.

**x-x-x**

We switched out pokemon every now and then, but continued to battle most of the day. As the sun started to set, I clocked out and walked by the fence spying a very glum Riolu.

"What's the matter Riolu?" I picked him, and he went limp in my arms.

"Lu." He sulked.

"You want to train with the others?"

"Lu lu!" He nodded.

"But you could evolve if you did that." I cringed. "You wouldn't want that would you?"

He shrugged.

"Well, we'll see. If I remember correctly, you can't evolve at night. So maybe we can train then."

"Lu lu!" He beamed, pointing a paw to my training spot up the road.

"Oh no." I headed toward the house. "Not tonight okay?"

"Lu…" He sulked in my arms once more as we walked on home. Before I even got to the door, mom flung it open toward me.

"You're finally home!" She was still in her work outfit, and danced over to the kitchen table. "I know I told you could later, but everyone's really wanting that article on a certain league semifinalist." She winked at me. "Could you possibly sit down with me so I can write out a basic draft?"

"Taking work home with you I see." I sat down, placing Riolu on the table. "I could be bribed into it."

"Of course!" She dashed over to a pot on the stove and pulled out heaps of spaghetti and meatballs into bowls. I drooled a bit as she placed one in front of me. "Would you like some too Riolu?" She placed a small bowl in front of him.

"Luuuu…" He slurped up saucy noodles, getting it all over his face.

"Alright." I grabbed a fork and dug in. "What do you want to know?"

"Well there's not much I don't know." She chuckled, placing bowls of pokekibble down for Duchess and Delcatty. "To start with, would you say making the journey through Kanto was worth it? Some say it's better to go to pokemon school and take the tests offered, as apposed to badges."

I spaced out a bit, thinking of me and Kyle flying through Kanto on his bike. "Yeah. It was definitely worth it. I would do it all over again if I could."

"Oh." She scribbled something down on her notepad. "Was it ever lonely?"

Now I imagined me and Kyle talking our heads off, walking through towns. But I couldn't tell her that. Mom still didn't know I'd traveled with a boy. "No. Not really. Your pokemon become great allies and friends. They're always there for you."

"Lu!" Riolu chomped down a meatball.

"Do you have a preference in a certain type of pokemon?"

"Not really." I slurped down a long strand of spaghetti, almost sucking up some of my hair in it. "I like all types. They all have their advantages and disadvantages."

"That's true." She nodded. "Would you say the league was a challenge for you?"

"Yeah definitely." I nodded back. "There are so many trainers you have to get through before you even see the elite four, and then they are supposedly super difficult to beat in battle. But as you know, I didn't make it that far."

"Right." She looked up from her notepad. "You got beat by the guy who won right? Was that a tough battle?"

I could almost see the fire in Kyle's eyes as he fought against me. When he battled, the hints of brown in his green eyes shone like flames from his Arcanine. I smiled, knowing he deserved that win. "It was the toughest battle I've ever been in."

"Would you say he's a better trainer than you though?" She readied her pencil.

I pushed the bowl away from me, feeling uncomfortable with thinking of him for this long. I needed to get away. "Yes. He's the best." I whispered, picking up Riolu and heading upstairs. "I'm getting tired. Is that enough for now?"

"Yes that's good!" Mom hustled off to the pc to write her new column.

"Lu?" Riolu pawed at my cheek, trying to wipe the tear that only he had seen away. He only ended up getting tomato sauce on my face.

I smiled at him, wiping the sauce off. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up."


	5. A Boring Day, An Evening Dinner!

**x-x-x**

Episode 4: A Boring Day, An Evening Dinner!

_Month 2 - September_

I sat at the front desk tapping a pencil against the clipboard. The large lady standing before me was highly agitating me. I looked down at the copy of The Pokemon News Press laying on the counter, trying to ignore her. The article about me was on the front cover. It embarrassed me a little, but I suppose that's what I get for having the editor-in-chief for my mom.

"Are you even listening to me?" The fat woman adjusted her designer sunglasses, and the baby on her hip. "You can't deny him. He has just as much right to stay here as any of the others. Besides! I need a day off from him!"

"Ma'am." I adjusted my glasses now. "We're a day-care center for pokemon. Not people. I can't take your baby off your hands."

"But he's driving me crazy!" She nearly dropped her child pulling on her hair.

"Well I can't help you." I flipped the newspaper up, pretending to read it.

"Ugh! Well I can see that." She flicked her thick hair back.

"Waaaaahhhhh!" The baby began to wail.

I just glanced up at her from my paper, propping one foot up on the counter.

"Hmph!" The woman waddled her way out.

"Luuuuu!" Riolu yawned from under the counter, curled up near my foot.

"Crazy people." I mumbled, putting the newspaper and my other foot down.

"She was weird." Stephen snuck up behind me, broom in hand.

"Hey Stephen," I jerked my head around to look at him. "Go scoop the poop out of the barn."

"What? Why? Bro will get it!" He whined.

"All you do around here is sweep!"

"Yeah so? I don't want to go outside! The pokemon are out there."

"I don't get you." I crossed my arms, leaning back in the chair. "Why did you want to work at a day-care center for pokemon if you don't like pokemon?"

"Well duh." He looked at me up and down. "The hottest girl in town works here."

"Luuuuu…" Riolu growled at Stephen from beneath the counter.

"Whoa geez!" Stephen stepped back. "I didn't know you had that pipsqueak in here today."

I glared at him, picking up Riolu. "Go admire someone else Stephen." I walked out to the field, slamming the door behind me.

"You okay?" Travis lifted his head up from playing with Pikachu in the field.

"Your brother's getting on my nerves." I grumbled.

"He gets on mine too sometimes." He whispered.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu ran to me playing with Riolu when I sat him on the ground.

"Did you get everything done for today?" I asked, looking to the setting sun.

"Yeah. You can close anytime." Travis took off his hat, running a hand over his short black hair. "Hey Shonna. I know it's short notice, but I have a question."

I leaned against the fence. "Yes?"

"Are you doing anything tonight?"

I slumped on the fence. The last thing I wanted today was him trying to ask me out again. "Travis…"

"Because my ma," He put his cowboy hat back on his head. "She wanted to ask you over for dinner today with the family." He smiled at me. "I'd really like it if you came."

"I don't know." I didn't want to at all, and was trying to think of a way around it.

"Shonna!" I heard Stephen cry from the center's door. "You have a telephone call!"

"Coming!" I rushed inside, grateful for the interruption. I was even more grateful when I clicked the 'accept' button and saw Erika's bright cheery face on the screen. "Erika!" I smiled. "Hello again!"

"Thank goodness." She sighed. "I thought for a minute I had the wrong number."

"Nope! I'm here."

"Well I just wanted to drop you a call, see how you are doing since you got home. It's been over a month you know!"

"I know." I watched as Travis, Pikachu and Riolu walked in. "I've been so busy with work. The owners haven't been here much, so I've had to pick up the slack." I put Riolu in my lap. "And there's been plenty of slack."

"Hey! I'm no slacker!" I heard Stephen yell as he walked outside.

"You kind of are." Travis crossed his arms, walking behind me to grab a book from the shelf. "I'm clocking out too Shonna, but I'll be waiting outside for you okay?"

"Kay." I groaned, knowing he'd be expecting a response.

"Oh wow." Erika's eyes widened when she saw Travis walk out. "You're quick to find you a new boyfriend aren't you?"

This made me blush a little. "What? Erika he's not…"

"But I must say," She swooned. "He was really good-looking! He's hot!"

"No!" I tried to keep my voice low. "He's not my boyfriend!"

"Oh he's not?" Erika frowned. "Well then how come he's going to wait for you?"

I just shrugged, not wanting to talk about it.

"Well I don't see Kyle around, so…"

I flinched at the mention of his name. "He's not here."

"What happened? I thought you liked him. Do you call him? Does he know about this new guy?"

"Erika shut up!" I screamed. "I don't want to talk about Kyle!"

Taken back by my anger, she jumped in her seat. "Um, sorry Shonna."

"I've gotta go." I reached for the end call button. "Talk to you later." I shoved my finger against the button, and sighed when I had to redial another. A man greeted me on the screen.

"Pokemon News Press. How can I help you?" He sounded so formal, but I knew he knew who I was.

"Is my mom still there?"

"Yeah." The guy pressed a button to send my call to her office.

"Hello sweetie!" Mom cheerily answered, typing away at another monitor beside the one she was staring at. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Hey mom, you'll be coming home soon right?"

"No I'm afraid not." She looked back to the other computer. "I'll be working late. And I'm afraid there's no food at the house right now. I'll stop and get some groceries on my way home. You'll be okay right?"

"Yeah." I pet Riolu's head softly as he sat in my lap. "Stephen's family invited me over for dinner."

"Oh good!" Mom cooed. "You should go! Kim's a really good cook, not as good as me, but pretty close. And her boys are so nice."

"I don't think so." I reached for the end call button once more. "Well, see ya later tonight I guess."

"Maybe. Don't wait up for me okay?" She ended the call before I got the chance.

"Kay." I picked up Riolu and headed out. "See you tomorrow Pikachu!"

"Pika pi!" She curled up in her small bed, in the corner of the room.

I locked the door behind me and stepped outside. It was dark out, and as he had said, Travis was waiting outside.

"Mind if I keep this book for a while?" He asked, holding out a copy of How to Beat a League Competition For Dummies.

"Uh, sure." I chuckled. "Just bring it back sometime."

"I will." He tucked the book under one arm. "Stephen took off already. He said you'd never in a million years come over."

"Well," I held my stomach. "I am pretty hungry."

Travis lit up in a big smile. "Great! I'll walk you there."

"I know where the house is." Riolu smacked me with his tail as he maneuvered around on my shoulder. "But I guess there's no point in walking separate."

"Sure isn't." From his stride, you would think he was almost skipping by my side. "So, that pokemon there, does it always stay out of its pokeball?"

"Lu?" Riolu looked at Travis strangely, recognizing he was talking about him.

"No, he goes in every now and then, but he prefers to be with me at all times." I pet under Riolu's chin as we walked. "He thinks he's protecting me I guess."

"That so?" Travis watched Riolu closely. "I'm glad he's there then."

I was quiet, choosing not to reply to that.

"Your turn," Travis said. "To ask me a question. That's how conversations work, ya know?"

"Umm…" I looked ahead, hoping the house was close, but it wasn't even visible yet. They lived outside of town. "How old are you? You look way too old to be interested in me."

"Wow. You think I look old?" He laughed. "I'll have you know I'm only eighteen."

"And I'm only thirteen." I said gruffly.

"Five years isn't that big of a difference." He turned away. "I suppose you think you're better suited for Stephen? He's only a year older than you."

"I'm not suited for either of you!" I yelled.

"Lu." Riolu barked in agreement.

"Hey calm down." Travis held up his hands defensively.

"Besides." I crossed my arms as we arrived at his house. "Didn't I tell you? I already have a boyfriend."

"Ah right." He nodded, but made a face that said he didn't believe me.

Kim greeted us at the door. "Welcome! Welcome! Come on in!"

The house looked a lot like mine, with warm colors throughout. Kim rushed back into the kitchen and began sitting out food all around the table. Her husband Scott sat in the living room reading the paper. I couldn't figure out why though, since he was one of the columnists and probably had already read all of it before it was issued. If not wrote most of it. Meanwhile, Stephen and his younger brother Evan sat in the floor, playing some racing video game. When Stephen saw me, he dropped his controller.

"No way! You actually got her here?" Stephen jumped up. "Right on bro!"

"I'll eat later." Scott took his paper upstairs and left.

"Step-father's not very friendly with guests." Travis whispered.

"Don't mind him!" Kim yelled. "Supper will be ready in two shakes of a Mareep's tail dear!"

I chuckled at her analogy.

"So Shonna," Stephen put a little swagger in his step as he approached me "What would you like to do until then?"

"Luuuuu…" Riolu growled from my shoulder.

I was horrified by whatever he was thinking. Travis took one hand and shoved Stephen away. Stephen looked mystified at this, and I wonder if he even knew that Travis was also vying for my affections.

"Stephen!" The young boy pouted on the floor. "You promised you'd play this game with me! You promised!" Evan glared at me, as if I were the source of his woe.

"Not right now little bro!" Stephen glared back. "You're crampin' my style!"

"No!" I grabbed a controller from the floor and sat down on the couch. Riolu sat at my side. "I want to play the game." Truth be told, I really didn't, but it was something to do until dinner was ready.

"You're a girl though!" Evan glared once more. "You'll suck at it."

"Evan!" Kim yelled from the kitchen. "Don't be rude to our guest!"

"Yes mom." Evan moped.

"Well okay." Stephen hooked up another controller and looked to Travis. "You wanna' play too?"

"No thanks." He sat down on the sofa beside me, making me scoot away in response. "I'll just watch."

"I'll win for sure!" Evan screamed.

I watched as the screen lit up with numbers counting down. At 1, I pushed down hard on the button, moving the steering wheel controller back and forth in turns. Evan's car was all over the road, and I sped past him. Stephen zoomed past a bunch of the computer controlled cars, but his attention wasn't focused on the game. He kept looking back at me. I sped past him as well, and before I knew it, I was on the third lap.

I wondered to myself if Kyle liked video games. I'd never played any with him in Kanto, so I didn't know for sure if he did. He seemed like he would like them. Most guys do, from what I'd seen. I was sort of the oddball girl that liked them as well, though I would have preferred not to be playing them with Stephen and his bratty little brother. I also would have preferred not to have the two older boys staring at me like I was a piece of meat. I raced past the finish line, having a far lead in front of every other car.

"Awesome!" Stephen threw down his controller and looked to me. "You're a gamer girl too? Yet another thing to add to your list of total hotness!"

I reeled back in the couch, feeling uncomfortable. "I should have just went hungry." I whispered.

"Food's ready boys!" Kim yelled from the table.

"Yeah!" Evan, Stephen, and Travis all jumped up and bolted for the table.

"She's going to sit by me!" Stephen grabbed a wooden chair, jerking it toward his body.

"No way." Travis glowered. "She's sitting by me!" He grabbed the chair now, and the boys began a childish game of tug of war.

I sighed, dazing out in their arguing. I imagined Kyle pulling out a chair for me, like he did at the buffet we stopped at before the Indigo League. I took a seat between Kim and Evan, making both Stephen and Travis look up at me in shock.

"Boys! Really." Kim shook her head at them. "Shonna just ignore them sweetie. Would you like any mashed potatoes?" She handed a big container of the stuff to me, and I loaded my plate with it. I was always kind of a picky eater when it came to other people's cooking. And right now, the potatoes were the only thing that looked appetizing to me. I tried a few things, but it was not very good compared to Kyle and Mom's cooking. I picked at my food, trying to make it seem like I was eating, if only to avoid the conversation.

"Oh man!" Stephen dug into his turkey slices. He tore them off his fork with his teeth. "Did you guys see the game last night? It was so cool!"

"Stephen's going to play football someday." Kim reminded me.

I nodded. "So he's said."

"Oh yes." Kim glanced to her son. "Any girl would be crazy for not snatching him up while she had a chance."

I nearly choked on my potatoes. Now I realized why she asked me over. This was all yet another ploy to try and hook me and Stephen up. It seems this entire town wanted it that way. Kim, Mary and John, and even my own mother had all tried their hand at playing matchmaker for me. And now that I thought about, that's probably the reason Stephen seems to think I'm his girlfriend already.

"Let's change the subject." Travis said, shoveling some peas down his throat.

"No let's not!" Stephen seemed to puff up in his own ego. "Now what's this about me and girls?"

Travis rolled his eyes. "She said 'girl'. Not 'girls'. Though I'm sure you'd like it if it was plural."

"Well yeah!" He slurped on his soda. "As long as Shonna's included in on that deal."

"Stephen!" Kim yelled.

"Lu…" Riolu, who had remained quiet in my lap the whole time, now had a sneaky grin on his face as he scooped up a clump of mashed potatoes from my plate. I expected him to eat it, but instead, he lobbed it at Stephen, hitting him square in the face.

"Oh my gosh!" Kim yelled. Both Evan and Travis erupted in laughter.

"Riolu!" I grabbed him, wiping his paws with a napkin. "Sorry Kim. We'll be leaving now. Sorry for causing any trouble."

She simply watched jaw-dropped as I ran out of the house.

"Lu?" Riolu held tight to me as I ran home.

"Riolu. That was rude. You shouldn't have done that!" I scolded.

"Lu!" Riolu snorted.

"Yeah I know he totally deserved it, but still!" I couldn't hold my angry face anymore though, and giggled at him. "You silly boy! You'll get me in so much trouble!"

"Lu lu!" He laughed, wrapping his arms around my neck.

I ran on inside the house. Mom of course wasn't home, but my stomach was at least satisfied enough to let me sleep well that night.


	6. Riolu Gets To Train!

**A/N: This one flips perspectives between Shonna and Riolu.**

**x-x-x**

Episode 5: Riolu Gets To Train!

_Month 3 - October_

Riolu watched out the window of the center at Shonna and Travis. Once more, they were training with the pokemon. "Mommy trains more with those pokemon then she does me." He grumbled. "And they're not even hers."

"Try not to let it bother you Riolu." Pikachu hopped up to the windowsill with him. She wasn't much taller than he was, but the motherly air she gave off towered above him.

"It's not fair." Riolu turned back to the window. "She even finds time to train you."

"Well, she is awfully tired when she gets done with the day." She reminded. "Maybe that's why."

"I'm starting to think maybe she just doesn't want to train me." Riolu crossed his arms.

"Oh Riolu." Pikachu smiled. "You're so much like my son. Little Pichu was full of energy like you." A tear formed in her eye. "I miss him so much sometimes."

Riolu let his paws relax at his sides, feeling bad for her. "Yeah but Pichu never wanted to battle. He just acted tough."

"I'll bet you he's grown up though." Pikachu wiped the tear away with her fuzzy yellow paws. "I'll bet that young man made a fine pokemon out of him."

"I wanna' grow up too." Riolu sulked. "I wanna' be a strong pokemon like you."

"You will be." Pikachu placed a paw on his shoulder. "Just give it time. Don't forget Shonna's going through a lot right now."

"It's not my fault she left the guy!" Riolu snapped at her. "If she were going to come home and cry about it she should have just stayed there with him."

"Riolu!" Pikachu turned to him angrily. "Don't say such things. She's doing the best she can right now."

"It's not enough!" Riolu jumped off the windowsill and through a small pokemon door on the door that led to the field. He sat and watched Shonna for a while. She was totally engrossed in an intense battle with that Travis guy. "I bet mommy doesn't even know I'm here. She probably wouldn't notice if I left." He turned, headed behind the center, and squeezed under the fencepost. He didn't know exactly where he'd go, but right now he was mad, and wanted to get away. He ran on all four paws out of town, headed south. He snuck around the pokemon center, past the pokemart, and down to an area with several docks. He sat by the water, catching his breath.

"Wow! What kind of pokemon are you?" A little girl dressed in a Pikachu costume ran up to him.

"Great, just what I need. Another reminder of Pikachu." Riolu turned away, ignoring her.

"You're cute!" I'm gonna catch you!" The girl pulled out a pokeball, smacking it against his head. The ball flopped back to the ground beside him. "Oh no!" The girl yelled, picking up her empty pokeball. "Why didn't it work?"

"It didn't work because I already have a mommy!" Riolu barked. The girl obviously couldn't understand him though.

"Oh well." The little girl rushed up to him. I'll just have to catch you with my hands!"

"Get away from me!" He jumped back. When she continued the chase, he ran for the closest building he could find. It was a strange, creepy looking tower. Fog rolled around it mysteriously. He ran to the entrance. The girl stopped short behind him.

"Come back little pokemon! That's the Lost Tower! It's too scary in there!" She screamed.

"I'm not afraid of nothin'." Riolu stood up on his hind legs, walking casually into the tower.

Inside the tower, was a bunch of broken tile for the floor. In between the cracks, all kinds of grasses and weeds sprouted up. There were a few strange rocks arranged in the room, and a set of stairs at the rear.

Riolu puffed up and headed straight across the room to the stairs. As they led up, a voice startled him.

"Turn back now young one!"

"Who's there?" Riolu got into a defensive position he'd seen some other pokemon use before.

"Up here!"

Riolu looked up to see three zubat clinging to the ceiling upside down. One was particularly larger than the other two. It looked like a mom and her babies.

The momma zubat tilted her head. "Turn back now little one. You have to get out of here before nightfall. That's when the ghosts come out!"

"G-ghosts?" Riolu shuddered. "Wait a minute." He straightened up. "I'm not afraid of no ghosts. And I don't need you, or anyone else to tell me what to do!"

"Please don't go up there." Zubat pleaded.

"Just watch me." Riolu ran up the stairs, reaching the second floor.

Riolu couldn't figure out why the grass seemed to be more prevalent on the next floor. He moved cautiously through the room. Instead of simple rocks, there was now a few tombstones littering the floor. There was a small window by the stairs here, and peeked over it to see the sun starting to set.

"I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid." Riolu repeated as he ran up the next flight of stairs.

On the next floor, there were even more tombstones, and an ominous mist floated through, making it harder to see. Riolu walked slowly to the end of the room, and the next set of stairs. There were no pokemon or people here, and the quiet was scaring him more than anything. He crept up the next set of stairs, and was surprised to see nothing. Nothing was visible in the next room in the midst of a thick white fog.

"I'm not sc-scared." Riolu trembled. This room was cold. He stepped forward, not sure where he was. He took a few steps, and now even the stairs he was just on, weren't visible in the fog. "I'm lost!" He screamed, running around the room. Everything around him was white. "Where am I?" He sat down, sobbing a little. "Help! Somebody help!" He could feel something, a sort of bizarre radiance, leaving his body as his fear intensified. "Mommy! Help me!"

**x-x-x**

"Riolu!" I cried out for him, searching the whole center. It was time to close, and he was nowhere in sight.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu called for him as well.

"Where do you think he could be?" Travis had stuck behind to help me look for him.

"I don't know." I looked down. "He was right here earlier."

Suddenly, something hit me hard. It was like a pain, a scared sensation, and it attacked every part of me. It was so strong, I nearly fell over from it.

"Shonna?" Travis ran to me. "What's wrong?"

"Riolu." I spoke. "Something's wrong." I bolted for the door. "Close up for me okay?"

"Uh okay." He looked confused, but stayed inside the center as I left.

"Rapidash! Go!" I tossed out his pokeball and leaped up on his back. "Head south!" I yelled.

"Brrrr!" Rapidash took off, speeding out of town. With each step he took, the painful signal in my body intensified.

"Hang on Riolu! I'm coming!"

**x-x-x**

Riolu looked around the room. He still couldn't see anything through his tear soaked eyes. "Mommy!" He called out, but no answer came. "I left. She'll never find me." He stood up, shaking all over. "I've got to get out of here myself." He ran on all fours around the room, but never found anything. Then, as he ran, he suddenly struck one of the tombstones of the room, hitting his head hard on it. "Ouch!" He cried, rubbing his head tenderly. "That hurt."

Then, an evil and violet color surrounded the gravestone. A gastly appeared from it, with a wide grin stretched across his face.

"Well well now!" The gastly cackled, floating circles around Riolu. "What do we have here?"

"Stay away!" Riolu jumped back, holding out one paw shakily.

"Kid, you're shaking in your boots!" The gastly giggled, and two more appeared behind him, mocking his laughter.

"G-go away!" Riolu shivered. "Leave me alone!"

"Ah but we could have so much fun with a little tyke like you." The trio of gastly crept closer.

"I said stay away!" Riolu punched at him, but the gastly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Stupid attacks like that won't work on us." The gastly trio laughed. "You're going to have to do better than that!"

Riolu began to cry once more. He didn't know anything better than that. He bolted for the other end of the room, and stopped dead in his tracks as he spied a bunch of eerie blue flames heading toward him out of nowhere. "Agh! What's that?" He screamed, running back for the other end of the room.

One of the gastly popped up in front of him, licking across Riolu's face with its slimy tongue. Riolu tried to run away, but he couldn't move a muscle!

"Hehehe." All three gastly surrounded him. "We've got you now kid."

A blast of blue flames hit all the gastly around him. Though it didn't hit Riolu, he could feel the heat from them.

"Eiiiiieeeee!" The gastly winced in the flames, taking off into the fog.

Something grabbed Riolu, but he couldn't see what, and he couldn't move to fight it off. He was starting to gain some mobility when whatever was carrying him headed down the stairs. The fog lifted, and he could see his trainer carrying him in her arms, riding on her Rapidash.

"Mommy!" He cried, throwing his arms around her. "You saved me!"

"Riolu, are you okay?" She held him up as Rapidash trotted down the stairs.

"I'm okay Mommy! But it was so scary!" He hugged her neck tightly.

Rapidash, who was normally quiet, even to other pokemon, spoke up. "Little guy, you really had her worried."

Shonna held Riolu away from her, looking at him seriously. "Riolu, why did you run away?"

Riolu looked away as Rapidash trekked down another flight of stairs.

"You scared me." Shonna said softly. "One minute you were there while I was training, the next minute you're gone."

"That's why." Riolu said, though he knew she wouldn't understand him.

She sighed. "Riolu, do you really want to train that bad?"

He turned around, amazed that she was getting what he was trying to say. He nodded at her.

"You know what? It's pretty easy for me to know what's going on with you. I can feel it."

Riolu tilted his head. They were on the first floor now, and headed out.

"Yep." She smiled at him. "Whenever you're happy, I feel happy. Whenever you're sad, I know. Whenever you're scared…"

Riolu listened intently as they left the tower, walking out into the night air.

"I know where to find you." She pet his head gently. "I've been so busy with work lately, I've ignored your feelings. And for that I'm sorry."

"It's okay momma!" Riolu hugged around her neck again. He was getting tired now, and sleepy. He just wanted to nuzzle up in her arms and go to sleep.

"So, no more." She pulled him away once more, sliding off Rapidash's back. "We'll train. And we'll start tonight." She sat him down on the ground, close to the water.

"Right now?" He whined. "But I'm sleepy!"

"I thought this is what you wanted." Rapidash whinnied.

"Yeah but…" Riolu yawned. "I've had a big day."

"I'm not going to go easy on you Riolu." Shonna smiled. "Your opponent will be Rapidash."

"Are you kidding me?" Riolu whined once more. "Couldn't you have started with Pikachu? Or Butterfree?" He looked up to the horse that towered above him, and nearly fell backwards doing so.

**x-x-x**

I watched as Riolu looked up at Rapidash with uncertainty. But I was determined to show him training wasn't a cakewalk. He'd have to show me he was really dedicated to it, and that he could obey my commands.

"Rapidash! Charge after him! Riolu! dash left!"

Rapidash lowered his horned head to Riolu, and raced forward. Instead of dodging like I'd asked, Riolu turned tail and ran.

"Luuuuu!" He cried as the chase ensued.

"If you expect to be any good at this you've got to listen to me Riolu!" I yelled. "Now stop and turn around!"

"LU?" He gave me a look like I was crazy.

"Better do it, or I'm calling this training quits."

"Lu!" He turned around and stopped. He was only a few feet ahead of Rapidash. Rapidash lifted his horned head up as he charged, obviously having no intension of skewering Riolu.

"Now! Between his legs!" I watched happily as Riolu ducked under him, running under Rapidash's body to get behind him.

"Don't let your guard down Rapidash!" I chuckled to myself as Rapidash struggled to get turned around quick.

"Lu lu!" Riolu laughed, looking confident. He raised his paw up, having a light blue aura to it.

"No Riolu don't!" I screamed.

He swiped his paw across Rapidash's leg, bringing the horse to its knees by the surprise attack.

This enraged Rapidash. "Brrrrr…" He whinnied in a low tone before smacking the side of his horn into Riolu.

"Lu!" He started flying backwards, and I had to dive to catch him. Grass stained my overalls on impact.

"Great." I said with sarcasm. I stood up with him in my arms.

"Lu lu?" Riolu gave a sad face that was almost too cute to be mad at. Almost.

"Riolu. Don't ever do something like that without my order again." I sighed, using my other arm to help Rapidash up. He seemed fine though, only stunned. "That was a dirty, sneaky move. And we don't play dirty in battles." I scolded.

Rapidash seemed to agree. "Brr."

"Lu lu…" Now Riolu looked as though he were going to cry.

"We're going to be fair in our training okay? No low blows unless ordered. That way the pokemon your fighting at least has a chance to react."

"Lu." Riolu put a paw on my forehead.

"My head?" I lifted his paw off, holding it in my hand. "Sure Riolu. If you ever learn to read my mind, you can do that." I laughed. "Is that what you were thinking?"

"Lu." Riolu nodded.

"Oh wow. I guessed first try." I was surprised, and couldn't help but think maybe the mind reading thing wasn't far off. "Nah." I dismissed it. "So, was that a force palm you used?" I held up his paw. "Very impressive."

"Lu!" Riolu smiled, looking proud of himself once more.

I hopped onto Rapidash's back. "We'll work on training more later. I promise I'll make time to give you special training at least once a week okay?"

"Rio. Lu!" He nodded happily as we headed back home.


	7. A Day Off From Work!

**x-x-x**

Episode 6: A Day Off From Work!

_Month 4 - November_

I woke up in a cheery mood. I got together all my things, including six pokeballs, into my tote bag. I'd already called and cleared it with Mary and John. Today, I was taking a day off. I put on my pink pokeball hoodie and a pair of jeans.

"Well Riolu. Today we're going on another journey."

"Lu?" Riolu tilted his head.

"Today, I'm going to try my hand at the Sinnoh league."

"Lu!" His little jaw dropped now.

"It's true." I laughed, scooping him up and heading out of the house. "I'm going to get registered, and try out what's known as the toughest gym in Sinnoh. I just decided this pretty much on a whim, but I need something fun to do. A break from work you know?"

"Lu." He nodded, still looking surprised.

"Aerodactyl!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, trying to make my voice carry across the nearby Solaceon Ruins. Within minutes, I heard the flapping of her wings.

"Dactyl." She landed gracefully in front of me.

"Aerodactyl, could you please fly me around today? I don't ask much of you. Just please, for today?"

"Dac…" She crowed.

"Pretty please?" I pleaded.

"Tyl." She lowered her head, allowing me to get on.

"Thanks so much!" I hopped onto her scaly back. "First destination is Sandgem Town."

"Dac?" She groaned.

"I know it's kind of far…"

"Tyl." She took off, heading for the tiny town by the beach. I had never actually been to this town, but it wasn't hard to spot the pokemon lab there. I had called there when I was ten, to see if I could get started with the Sinnoh League, but after Skitty started giving me trouble, I ended up waiting two years and going to Kanto instead.

"Lu." Riolu pawed at my face, telling me we'd arrived.

"You're so fast Aerodactyl!" I slid off her back. "Go rest somewhere close for a while. I'll be right back."

"Dactyl!" She roared, taking flight and headed for the beachside. I could hear people screaming in the distance. Though I knew she wouldn't hurt anyone, the appearance of a huge, nearly extinct dinosaur had to be frightening.

"Oh Aerodactyl! Please don't scare the beach people!" More screaming ensued. "I'd better hurry." I ran in with Riolu draped over my arm.

"Hello!" I called out. "I need to register for the Sinnoh League."

A young woman in a lab coat raised up from her seat at a computer. "I'm sorry, the professor isn't in right now."

"Please, I really need to hurry."

"Alright. I suppose I can get you set up." She pulled up a form on her computer. "Just sit here and fill this out."

I typed like the wind, filling out personal information. Then, the woman asked me to sit in front of a camera, while it took my photo and uploaded it. I watched impatiently as a machine spat out a copy of my new trainer license. Before I could grab it, the woman took it and placed it into some sort of pink box. The ID sat at the top when you opened it, and the bottom had a soft velvet area.

"It's a trainer case." She explained, handing it to me. "It holds your ID and gym badges."

"Awesome!" I said, tossing it into my purse. "Is that it?"

She eyed the Riolu in my arms. "Well, I was going to ask if you wanted a starter pokemon."

"No thanks!" I rushed out, running for the beach. I didn't have time to choose, or train a new pokemon right now. I nearly tripped on my sneakers as the terrain turned to heavy sand.

"Lu!" Riolu pointed to Aerodactyl, who looked like it was having a lovely time chasing around some people. Even the lifeguard ran around with them screaming in fear.

"Aghhhhh! Help us!" The people cried.

I sighed. "You have an interesting sense of humor Aerodactyl." I could now hear police sirens in the distance, headed closer. "Aerodactyl! Let's go!"

"Dactyl!" She swooped down, tossing me and Riolu onto her back as we flew away just before the cops arrived. I could see Officer Jenny get off her bike and eye me.

"That was too close." I got more comfortable on Aerodactyl's back.

"Lu." Riolu sighed.

"Dac dac dac tyl!" She laughed, soaring higher.

"To Sunyshore please." I held Riolu tight. "And Aerodactly, you can't go around scaring people. You'll get me in trouble."

She snickered once more, turning to face Sunyshore.

"I'm serious. They'll be a lot more people in this city, and I need you to be inconspicuous."

"Dac." She nodded.

"Lu lu." Riolu held his paws over his eyes. I couldn't blame him. I suddenly wished I'd packed sunglasses for the bright city we were hovering over. Sunyshore's roads were giant solar panels that powered it. While I'm sure it was energy efficient, it was also blinding.

"Alright." I squinted to see. "Remember what I told you Aerodactyl. Inconspicuous. Try to land somewhere where we won't be seen."

"Tyl?" Aerodactyl spotted something she liked and dove for it. She roosted happily on the top of the lighthouse of Sunyshore city. Like an owl, she loved to land on anything cylinder or pole-like in structure. I could see people from all over the city turn to look up and stare.

"Not quite what I meant." Aerodactyl didn't make a move, looking quite content to take a nap right there. "Are you kidding me? Can't you get me at least a little closer to the ground?"

"Daaaaaac." She yawned, curling her long tail around her.

I hung my head, making the careful climb down the lighthouse's peak. "Hang on Riolu. I'm not exactly light on my feet you know."

"Lu." He crawled into the hood in my sweatshirt cautiously. When I finally dropped down to the observation deck that wrapped around the lighthouse, an old man stood staring at me wide eyed.

"Do you watch this lighthouse?" I asked.

"Yes. Is that your pokemon up there young lady?"

"Yeah. I need to park her there for today. I hope that's okay. She'll just sleep for a while."

"Uh, can't you recall it?" He glanced up to Aerodactyl wearily.

"Actually no." I smiled. "I didn't bring her pokeball. I had to pick good ones. I'll be fighting the gym leader here."

"I see." The old man turned, heading in the elevator. "Volkner hasn't had a challenger in a while. I hope you're ready."

"Yeah!" I skipped into the elevator, taking it all the way down with the old man. "I got all the gym badges in Kanto, so I'm expecting to do well."

"Good luck." The old man seemed skeptic. "You'll need it." The elevator door beeped and opened at the ground level. The old man stepped outside and pointed across town. "See that big building with the construction equipment? That's the gym."

"Thanks a lot mister!" I hopped off, then turned back to him. "Is the gym under construction though?"

"No." The man coughed, stepping back on the elevator. "Volkner's always so bored, he has nothing to do but renovate his gym." The doors sealed in front of him as he said this.

"Sounds like a challenging gym." I turned to the solar panel road that led straight to it, taking a step out onto it.

"Lu!" Riolu peeped out of my hood looking happy.

"Hey Riolu." I stretched out my arms as I walked. "They say the sun always shines in Sunyshore. It feels like it. Even though it's cold out, this road reflects heat. It sure feels good." I yawned.

"Lu." Riolu nodded.

I was the only one on this road. I smiled sadly, imagining Kyle walking beside me like we used to. It seemed so real to me. I could see him in his green jacket and the wind whip through his russet hair. He would turn and smile at me right about now.

"Lu?" Riolu poked the back of my neck.

"Huh?" I looked in front of me to see the huge gym. "Wow. I dazed out. Thanks Riolu." I pulled open the doors, seeing the inside of the gym. Everything from floor up was a sort of royal blue color. Then there were accents all over of yellow though. Some transformers were sparking around the stadium, reminding me of L.T. Surges's gym in Vermillion.

"Alright man." A young man's voice echoed. "I see how you are. I'll just go then. Leave you to your girly decorating."

"It's not decorating! It's renovating! Don't even get me started Flint." Another male voice said.

Two young men, probably the same age as Travis emerged from a back room. One wore red suspenders and had a red afro. The other had blonde hair, and a coat to match the gym's color scheme. Both of them looked at me for a second, then went back to their conversation.

"I still say it's girly." Flint snickered.

"Whatever. You're lucky Flint. You get to work in the league. You always have tough challengers. I just get the weaklings that can't even make it to you guys."

"Hey!" I yelled. "Which one of you is the gym leader? I'm here to give them a challenge." I already had a feeling it was the blonde guy, but I asked to be sure.

As I thought, the blonde man stepped forward. "You think you can win? If not you're better off just leaving."

"I was a semifinalist of the Indigo League in Kanto. I think I can handle you." I said smiling.

"Oh, a semifinalist." Flint grinned. "This could be the battle you've been waiting on Volkner."

"Maybe." Volkner rolled his eyes, not seeming impressed.

"I'll take my leave. Good luck Ms. Semifinalist." Flint waved before heading out behind me.

"Thanks." I said, taken back a bit by the man's friendliness.

"Okay then." Volkner readied a pokeball. "Two on two. I'm sure you know the drill about gyms, so I don't need to explain."

"That's fine." But I knew that two pokemon didn't leave me a lot of options.

"Raichu!" Volkner tossed out a large Raichu.

"Rai rai!" It growled.

"I once beat a tough Raichu with this pokemon." I pulled Duchess's pokeball out. The persian had happily agreed to abandon her heavenly housecat life to come with me today. I smiled, ready to toss out the ball. As I swung back, Riolu hopped down and ran onto the stage. "Riolu! No!" It was too late. He'd entered the ring.

"Lu!" He held up his tiny arms, trying to look tough.

Volkner laughed. "I'm sure you realize that means you have to use him now."

"Yes." I put Duchess's pokeball away. "I realize that." I hung my hands at my sides. I'd only been really training Riolu for a month now, and I knew he stood no chance of winning. But I didn't want him to know that.

"Okay Riolu. Let's put a hurting on him!" I cheered.

"Lu!"

"Raichu!" Volkner grit his teeth. "Double Team!" With that, Raichu produced about a dozen copies of itself that surrounded Riolu.

"Lu?" Riolu looked around at all them dizzily.

"Riolu! Don't get freaked out by that. Use foresight!"

Riolu closed his eyes, and as the Raichu descended on him, he was able to evade in a nick of time. The real Raichu remained somewhat stunned that his punch had missed.

"Now!" I commanded. "Force Palm!"

"Lu!" Riolu charged up aura on his palm. He smacked Raichu across the face with it.

"Chu!" Raichu looked none too happy about it, and smacked Riolu away with its long tail.

"Lu!" Riolu jumped back.

"Thunderbolt!"

"Jump!" I knew if he could leap high enough and quick enough, he could avoid it, but Riolu was a bit too slow for the powerful attack. I winced as electricity surged out of Raichu and into my baby pokemon.

"Luuuu!" He screamed.

"Riolu." I clinched my fist.

"Enough." Volkner halted Raichu's attack. "It's done."

"Ri. Ri." Riolu was breathing hard and struggling to stand.

"Riolu return!" I pat my shoulder, but he made no move to come back. "C'mon. Do I have to dig out your pokeball?"

"Lu." Riolu crossed the floor, passing out at my feet.

I sighed, picking him up and tucking him into my hood. "You put me in a tight spot little guy. Now I have to take out two of his pokemon with one." I whispered. "And too be certain, I'm not sure any of them can. In terms of highest level, my strongest is you though." I tossed out his pokeball. "Rapidash!"

His bright blue flames rose high. I glanced up to the high ceilings, knowing that such a state of the art gym would have a sprinkler system. It in fact did. "Try to keep your flames low Rapidash" I muttered.

"What was that?" Volener asked.

"Rapidash! Catch that mouse!"

"Agility Raichu!"

The pokemon sped laps around the stadium. Rapidash was gaining speed on him quickly. He was one of the fastest pokemon I'd ever seen, and I was proud to have him in my party. "Stomp it!"

Rapidash leaped, pounding his hooves down on the lightening bolt of Raichu's tail.

"Rai!" Raichu screamed, being jerked back by the force.

"Thunderbolt!" Volkner yelled out.

I knew what he was trying to do. "Rapidash! Let go and use Flamethrower!"

He let go, and the electric current that worked its way down Raichu's tail fizzled out when it had nowhere else to go. Rapidash was still close up on Raichu, and delivered a close range flamethrower attack that knocked Raichu out on contact.

"Return Raichu." Volkner returned him, and readied a new pokeball. "Very good, but no one defeats my next pokemon." His pokemon he let out looked like a yellow monster on the gym floor.

"An Electivire." I winced. I didn't know much about them, but it looked to be very powerful. "Rapidash! Start out with Flare Blitz!"

Rapidash charged forward. Blue flames engulfed him. It was a risky move, but I had to start and end strong if I was going to win.

"Thunderpunch."

Electivire reared back its fist, and just as Rapidash got close, punched him hard, knocking the horse backward. He skidded across the gym floor, almost knocking him out of the ring.

"Sheesh!" I nearly cursed looking at the damage it had done. Rapidash shook, weakly standing back up.

"Thunder." Volkner didn't look worried at all.

"I can't tell where it's coming from." Electric energy was sparking all over the room. It would hit ground soon. "Rapidash! A frontal attack won't work. Get behind him with Bounce!"

"Brr." Rapidash rushed forward, and just as lightening struck the ground, Rapidash leaped up, effectively avoiding it. He landed directly behind him, then gave a surprised look.

"Flamethrower again!" I yelled.

"Thunder once more!" Volkner cried.

"What's he doing?" I whispered. "He knows Rapidash can leap the ground." I could see Rapidash blow blue flames on Electivire's back, but then he stopped and whinnied in pain. "What's going on?" I yelled.

"Lectivire." Electivire turned around, allowing me to see the two tails he had wrapped around Rapidash's body, shocking the life out of him. Rapidash suddenly went limp in his grip.

"Stop!" I screamed. "I give up!"

Volkner made a motion to call off the attack, and Electivire uncoiled the tails from him. I rushed over to Rapidash's aid, kneeling over him. He was injured pretty badly.

"You lose. Just like the rest of the losers." Volkner looked down on me. "You'd better get them to a pokemon center." He disappeared into his back room.

I stood up, recalling both Riolu and Rapidash to their pokeballs. I carried one in each hand as I walked to the pokecenter.

**x-x-x**

"You were lucky. Volkner must have went easy on you." The Nurse Joy handed back my pokeballs. "We usually have much greater injuries from his challengers."

"Thanks I guess." I took the pokeballs and stuck them in purse.

"The Riolu will be fine by tonight, but you might want to let the Rapidash rest for a week or so."

"I got it." I turned around and walked out without another word. I marched up the stairs to the solar panel roads, which were much colder now since it was nearly sunset. Without Riolu on my shoulder I felt especially lonely, but I knew he needed his rest.

I rode the elevator up to the observation deck of the lighthouse, and took a minute just to look off the edge. You could see the ocean from here. I looked up to the pink and orange colored clouds that loomed above.

"Well Kyle, I lost another battle. You really were my lucky charm." I leaned over the railing, resting my head on my arm and letting out a deep sigh. "I need you."

"Dactyl!" Aerodactyl floated down in front of me, looking a bit concerned.

"Right." I climbed up onto her back. "Let's go home."

"Tyl!" She flew slowly back toward Solaceon Town.

I dug through my purse and looked at my empty trainer case. "I guess I really should give up on these silly dreams. I have no hope beating the Sinnoh league in the depressed state I'm in now." I looked up and could already see Solaceon Town looming in the distance. "I've just got to face the facts and get back to work."


	8. Rapidashing Through The Snow!

**x-x-x**

Episode 7: Rapidashing Through The Snow!

_Month 5 - December_

I adjusted an ornament on the Christmas tree at the day-care center. People really appreciated it when I did this every year, and I'd had lot of compliments on it before it was even done.

"Pika!" Pikachu held up a little red glass ball.

"Thanks Pikachu." I took it from her paws and placed it on the tree. "Now, last but not least…" I peered into the box to see Riolu holding up the star for me.

"Lu lu!" He giggled as I lifted him up to put it on the tree.

"Oh Shonna!" Mary walked in, pulling her coat close to her as some snow escaped inside. "It's so beautiful!"

"Thank you Mary." I smiled, pulling Riolu close. "I had great helpers though."

"Pika pi." Pikachu climbed up onto the counter, looking embarrassed.

"I can see that." She pulled her toboggan over her thick white hair.

"How's John?" I asked, putting the cardboard box back into the storage room.

"He's doing much better actually. He'll be coming in soon." She smiled. "He made a suggestion to me this morning, but I wanted to run it by you first."

"What is it?" I asked, sitting at the front desk.

"He wants to have a Christmas party next week." She grinned.

"As in a work party?"

"Yes. Of course the whole town could come though. I'm making hot apple cider and cookies. I was hoping you could make some of those poffins for the pokemon."

"I don't know." I smiled hesitantly. "I still haven't got the perfect recipe down. Not all the pokemon may like it."

The older man who ran the center, John, now walked in. "I'm sure they're great Shonna. Everything you do around here is amazing."

"Well I wouldn't say that." I put my hand behind my head, feeling embarrassed. "Glad to see you're feeling better though."

"So how do you feel about the party?" John asked.

I couldn't turn him down, he was such a sweet old man, and he'd been sick for so long. I didn't want to hurt his feelings. "Okay fine."

"Great!" John grinned. "I also had an idea, that we could do a secret santa type of thing and exchange gifts."

"Like drawing names out of a hat?" I asked.

"But where will we find a hat that will work for that?" Mary asked.

Travis and Stephen walked in now. "Hey everybody!" They hooted.

"Perfect timing!" Mary grabbed the time cards from yesterday, scribbling John's name down and tearing off all the names. "May we borrow your hat Travis?"

"I don't know." He joked. "I don't like to give it up." He pulled it off his head and held it out as Mary dropped in the names. She took it from him and shuffled around the paper strips.

Mary handed the hat to me. "Shonna, will you do the honors?"

"Sure." I took the hat and held it in front of Travis. "Alright cowboy. Draw."

Travis laughed at my pun. He stuck his hand deep into the hat, pulling out a name. "Mary." He said, stuffing it into his pocket.

I held the hat to Stephen next. He looked elated as he unfolded his paper. "It's you Shonna!"

"Great." I smirked, knowing he'd get me something stupid. I held the hat to Mary next.

"I got John! That will be easy." She laughed.

"You're so lucky." John smiled, pulling the next name. "Stephen."

My eyes widened when I realized what the last paper must have scrawled on it. I unfolded it anyway, hoping it might not be true. "I got Travis." I sighed. "But, I don't know what to get you at all." I whined.

"Well." Travis winked. "You'd better learn real quick."

I was speechless now as I watched everyone carry on with their work.

John saw me staring into space and walked back up to me. "Shonna, since I'm here today, why don't you take the rest of the day off?"

"Uh okay." I turned and walked out into the snow, still holding tight to Riolu and the little strip of paper.

"Lu?" Riolu looked up at me curiously.

"Shoot Riolu. I think I would have rather had anyone than him." I walked toward the pokemart across the street. "I mean, I barely know anything about him. And what I do know, is not positive traits."

"Lu." Riolu chuckled as the pokemart doors slid open.

"I mean, what do you get a womanizing egotistical cowboy?" I looked around in the Solaceon Pokemart, seeing cowboy boots on one wall, hats and apparel on another. "Oh wait. I forgot I live in a town full of them."

"Howdy Shonna!" A portly man in a cowboy outfit of his own approached me. "Can I help you find anything?"

"No thank you." I felt a little embarrassed as I walked to the aisle of ranch clothing. I kept hoping he might leave.

"Ho now! You're heading into the farming territory!" The man guffawed as he followed behind. "And the men's section too! You wouldn't happen to be shopping for a new boyfriend would you?"

By now I had exhausted any patience I had with the man. I turned around and glared at him. "No I'm not! Leave me alone!"

"Whoa Shonna! Sorry!" The man backed up and slowly walked away.

Some women in the store looked over to stare and whisper.

I looked down at Riolu, who had a sort of amused look. "Well Riolu, that one will go down in the Solaceon Town gossip books." I turned around to look at the merchandise around me. I picked up a cowboy hat and put it on my head. "What do you think?"

"Lu lu lu!" He laughed at me.

I smiled, pulling the hat off and looking at the price tag. "Holy moly! Fifty bucks for a hat?" I put the hat back up and noticed some boots. "$200 for those? I'm really not looking to spend that much." I looked up and down the aisle, searching for anything else.

"Lu!" Riolu pointed his paw to something to the right. Sitting folded neatly on the shelves, was a pair of bandanas. One was red, with images of Tauros on it. The other, was pink with pictures of Miltank decorating it.

"Hmm… not a bad idea Riolu." A sneaky grin crossed my face as I picked up the pink one. "If I get him something like this, maybe he'll get mad and quit hitting on me so much." I laughed somewhat maniacally to myself as I took it up to the register. The same large farmer man rang up my purchase, and stared at me as if I'd lost my mind. I walked out with the small bag, happy I'd only spent five dollars on my cowboy coworker.

**x-x-x**

The week flew by. Before I knew it, it was the big day of the party. I woke up early, rushing to get several batches of poffins done.

Mom rushed downstairs in a hurry. "I'm headed out for work. Good luck at your work party! I'll stop by on my lunch break and say hi!" She slipped into her high heels and walked out.

"Kay!" I tossed a poffin to Riolu, Duchess and Delcatty. "Try one of these. I tried some new things, so tell me if they're good." I ran around the kitchen in frenzy, trying to get everything done. "I'm going to be late…" I adjusted my hair in the mirror by the door. I hadn't had it cut yet, and didn't plan to. I remembered Kyle saying he liked my long hair, and I hadn't cut it since. It now trailed half way down my back, but it was very pretty. I was wearing a red long sleeve shirt and jeans today, since it wasn't really a work day.

"Del del? Del!" Delcatty was meowing loudly, distracting me from my thoughts.

"Yeah yeah." I turned around. "I know. You don't like…" I stared at him as he licked the crumbs off his face, and began searching the ground for more.

"You liked it?" I ran over, loading up the boxes. "Awesome! I must be on the right track."

"Lu!" Riolu happily peeked his head out from a santa hat that was way too big for him.

"You crazy little pokemon." I stuck him and the hat on my head, grabbing all my things, and putting on a gray coat. I stuffed all the poffins, as well as Travis's present, down into a big shopping bag. I lugged it all the way to the day-care center, where Travis stood waiting outside. His boots sat a couple inches deep in the snow that was piling up.

"You look nice." He said, taking the heavy bag from me.

"Thanks." I pulled down on my santa hat, trying to keep Riolu warm inside. He squirmed a bit.

"Looks like everyone's here." Travis opened the door, and bright lights flooded my eyes. John and Mary must have came in early to decorate the place. The day-care center was decked out in Christmas lights and various knick-knacks. Everyone's presents were sitting neatly under the tree I'd put up. I reached into the bag Travis was carrying and sat his gift down with the others.

"Haha." Stephen laughed. "You left it in the pokemart bag."

"Sorry." I shrugged. "I didn't find time to wrap it."

"Oh Shonna! Good!" Mary was sitting out cookies and a thermos of apple cider. "Could you help me out?"

"Sure!" I rushed over, helping sit out cups and plates.

"Everyone will be coming in soon." Stephen said, pulling out box after box of my poffins.

"Yes they will." Mary looked up as Travis and John stepped out. "It'll get pretty busy in here, so I need you two to stay here and help serve food."

Stephen and I glanced at each other and nodded slowly.

"I bet this will be really popular Mary." I pointed out. "We may have to do it again next year."

"Yes indeed." Mary nodded. "And it will help bring in some extra cash flow too."

Riolu peeked out from under my hat to smell the poffins I was sitting out on another platter. "Wait a second." I looked up at her. "We're charging for this?"

"Not for this." She smiled. "But Travis and John are working on getting together a special attraction."

"What kind of attraction?"

Mary winked at me. "I'll wait and let them tell you. I'm not sure if they'll be able to get it together anyway. But if they do, they may need the help of your Rapidash. Is that all right?"

I nodded, trying to figure out what the surprise could be. "Yeah sure."

We spent quite a long while doing the party. Visiting trainers stopped in and gave their pokemon my poffins. I was surprised to find that most of them liked them.

Mom visited on her lunch break, taking a cup of cider and the time to play with Riolu and Pikachu. She was very good with pokemon, and sometimes I wondered if she might have been a trainer when she was younger. I'd asked her before, but she was always so secretive with what she told me about her past. She didn't deny it, or answer.

Soon after she left, and the crowd started dying down some, Travis and John arrived back.

"Hello boys!" Mary called out. "How did it go?"

"We found what we were looking for." John said, brushing snow out of his gray moustache.

"That's great!" Mary giggled. "We'll work on rigging it up later. Right now, let's open our presents!"

"One second dear." John reached over the counter and brought out a camera and tripod. "Let's get a picture first."

"That's an excellent idea." She said as he set up the tripod. "We don't have any pictures of us together."

"That's what I was thinking." He secured the camera on the tripod and got behind it. "Everyone get together."

I winced a bit at this idea. Especially when I found myself standing between Stephen and Travis.

"Get closer!" John demanded. "I won't be able to fit in beside Mary."

Feeling even more uncomfortable, I was sandwiched between them.

"Now how does this timer work?" John mumbled.

I looked to my right when I heard Stephen giggling and felt something touch the back of my head. I glared at him to make him pull back his hand.

"Don't you dare give me buneary ears!" I hissed.

I felt a tap on my left shoulder, and turned to Travis. He turned his head away innocently. When I faced him, he sneaked his right arm around me, hovering it a few inches over my shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I asked, still looking at him.

The boys had been pestering me so much, I hadn't noticed John run over to stand beside Mary, or that the camera was beeping. The second it stopped, Travis wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him. The camera flashed, and I shoved him away, almost knocking him into Mary. I was so stunned, I didn't even know what to say.

John ran over to the camera, looking at a preview on the tiny screen. "Ho now. That's a keeper."

"No it's not!" I wailed. "Please delete that one! Let's take it again!"

"Oh but dear." Mary leaned against the wall. "I don't think I have the energy to stand up any longer."

"But…but!" My whines persisted, but everyone separated from their positions anyway.

Travis beamed as he walked over to John. "Give me the memory card and I'll go the pokemart later and print them."

"Sure." John obliged him, though I was jaw-dropped.

"How many copies do we want?" He asked, waving the memory stick around.

"I want one!" Mary said excitedly. "Actually, get me and John five. I'll send them to our friends."

"I'll take one." Stephen said happily.

Travis looked to me with a sly look. "How about you?"

"No!" I spat. "No way."

"Suit yourself." He said, placing the memory stick in the back pocket of his jeans. All hope of stealing and deleting the photo was lost.

"Now," Mary suggested. "How about those presents?"

"Alright!" Stephen jumped up from his seat. "Hey, who's gonna be santa?"

"Lu?" Riolu pulled the santa hat up with his tiny paws. Even though I was still distraught about the photo, Riolu's immediate eagerness was too cute to ignore.

"C'mon Riolu." I tried to shake off my fluster for now, and sat him down by the tree. "You hand them to me, and I'll distribute them."

"Lu!" He grinned, running up to grab the first present. It was wrapped poorly, and had a strange shape to it.

"That's mine for you!" Stephen yelled, looking a bit nervous.

"Okay." I laughed, tearing into the flimsy paper with my fingernails. Beneath it, was a football. "Stephen." I grumbled. "Really? A football?"

"What?" He whined. "That's my best one! It's even signed by the best quarterback in Sinnoh! You like it right?"

"Yeah." I smiled, opening the door to the field. "I'll put it to good use. Vaporeon! Catch!" I threw it with all my strength, and saw Vaporeon leap out of the water to grab it.

"No!" Stephen screamed, running out after it. Everyone else chuckled in a nervous way.

"Idiot." I mumbled, returning to Riolu, who was holding the next present. "This one's from Travis, to Mary."

Mary took the gift that was wrapped only slightly better than Stephen's. "Oh! What pretty gloves!" She pulled out some wool gloves bejeweled with a snowflake on each hand. "Travis, this will help so much. It's been so cold out, and this will help with my arthritis."

"Well thank ya ma'am." Travis smiled. "I was hoping you'd like it."

They smiled at each other as Stephen reemerged from the field. He was drenched and clutching his football angrily. "Here Stephen." I shoved a gift into his hand. "From John."

"Hmph." He tore off the wrapping paper, revealing a beach towel for Stephen's favorite team, The Canalave Steelixes. "Awesome!" He held it out for everyone to see.

"I thought you might enjoy it." John coughed. "You've been saying for quite some time that you were going to go to the beach. I know it's not the right time right now, but maybe this summer."

"Yeah!" Stephen yelled. "Then I can check out all the hot chicks!"

I sighed. "Stephen, you might want to go ahead and use that now. You're dripping all over the floor."

"Well it's not my fault!" He took the towel and rubbed it on his head. "Your stupid pokemon drug me under!" He stomped away, drying off as he went.

"Anyway." I rolled my eyes, handing the next present to John. "This is from your wife."

Mary blushed a bit as John opened the metal tin.

"Oh wow!" John reached in, pulling out a different kind of cookie than any of the others I'd seen. She had fixed a lot for the party, but not like these. "My favorite! This is your special recipe right?"

"It is." She smiled.

"Can I eat them now?"

"Yeah of course!" They laughed like a couple of lovebirds, walking toward the back of the room.

Instantly I felt uncomfortable. I was prepared to give Travis his present as a group. Having everyone else around would have made it easier, but now, we were all alone, and he was smiling at me questionably_. I don't need to be getting worked up over it though. My gift I picked, might as well be a big joke._ I thought to myself, grinning inwardly as Riolu handed me the bag. I didn't say a word as I held it out to him.

He just kept smiling as he pulled the pink bandana out of the bag. Then, his expression turned to a look of surprise.

_He's going to hate this. _I smiled.

Suddenly his look of disbelief turned to happiness again. "Shonna. I'm surprised. How did you know my family back home raises Miltank?"

My jaw dropped.

"Lu?" Riolu tilted his head.

"Yeah! Back on the ranch, there are all kinds of them. I'm quite fond of them." He wrapped the pink bandana tightly around his neck. "Not exactly my favorite color, but thank you. It'll keep me warm in this cold weather we've been having."

"You… like it?" I still couldn't believe it.

"I love it." He leaned in closer to me. "And you know what makes it even better? It was from you."

I backed away, toward the door. "Uh, I should get back to work now."

"Your work is with me." He followed me.

"What?"

"I need your help with the project me and John were working on. Come with me." He walked by me, headed out the door, making sure to brush up against me.

"Lu!" Riolu crawled up onto my shoulder, still wearing the oversized hat.

I uneasily followed through the snow, ready to bolt back at any minute if this was some trick. Not far from there, rested an old sleigh. It was huge, and looked in need of a new paint job. It had a set of seats in the back, as well as the front for the driver. Hooked up to it by reins, was Travis's Rapidash. There was another set of reins hooked up to the sleigh, which were empty.

"John and I found this on somebody's farm around here. The guy says he used to keep it around until his pair of Stantler died." Travis walked over and pet his Rapidash's head. "We were thinking of offering sleigh rides tonight, but as you can see, we need another steed to pull it."

"I see. So that's why you need my Rapidash."

I noticed Mary and John come up behind me. John smiled as he opened his mouth to speak. "And if you agree, we'll gladly be your first customers."

Mary clung to his arm lovingly. "I'd like that."

I sighed, tossing out my pokeball from my pocket. "Well I can't say no to that now can I?"

Rapidash looked around at everyone when he came out of the ball.

"Hey there." Travis placed a hand on Rapidash's head. I reached out to stop him, but amazingly, he didn't get burnt. "You sure are a pretty Rapidash. Can you help us out with this sleigh riding tonight?"

Rapidash simply nodded, before following him over to the sleigh to get rigged up.

"Yeah! I'm so happy! This will be so exciting!" Mary and John hopped on the back seat of the sleigh.

John leaned over to me. "Here Shonna. This attraction's all thanks to you and Travis's Rapidashes, so you two can split the money in the end." He handed me a fifty. "If anyone comes by and wants a ride, you tell them we'll be back soon."

Travis continued rigging up my Rapidash. I slowly walked up to him.

"My Rapidash is usually very finicky on who he'll let touch him." I said, watching him adjust a strap above his flaming mane.

"Yeah. Mine is too. He's real picky. But when you work with them a lot, you know." Travis looked serious. "We have probably a dozen or so on the ranch back home."

"I see." It was a pretty viable excuse, but it still surprised me that he was able to finish rigging up Rapidash to the sleigh.

"See you later Shonna." Travis tipped his hat as he flung himself up into the high driver's seat. "Go back to the center and collect the cash okay?" He winked at me. "Stay nice and warm."

I stepped back nervously. I felt my eye twitch as he laughed and drove the sleigh down the snowy road.

I could feel Riolu shiver on my shoulder, sticking his whole body up in his hat. "I'd almost forgot you were there little Riolu." I stuffed him behind my coat as I walked back to the center. "Let's see if there's any leftover poffins. What do you say?"

"Lu lu!" His voice was muffled, and he squirmed happily under my coat.

**x-x-x**

I waited at the front desk of the day care center. Everyone had exhausted the food reserves, but we did have two more couples come in wanting sleigh rides. It was dark out now, and Riolu yawned sitting beside me. Mary and John had stopped in after their ride and told me to close up whenever I wanted. I cleaned up all the mess people had made, and hustled Riolu out, wrapped tightly under my coat. I locked the door and turned around just as Travis arrived with the last couple.

"That was so fun!" The woman cheered as her husband helped her get down from the sleigh. They walked off into the snowy night. I smiled watching them walk away, wishing that I had done something like that with Kyle while I had the chance. We of course had spent Christmas together in Kanto, but we didn't do anything special for it. We were always so busy.

It was then I noticed Travis smiling at me in a warm way that made me uncomfortable.

"Uh so!" I broke the silence, standing in the snow. I struggled to find the money from my pocket, and shuffle Riolu around. "Here we go." I dug out his half of the money. He crammed his share into a pocket on his jeans. "So," I started digging through my other pocket. "I can recall Rapidash now right?"

All of the sudden, Travis grabbed me, and tossed me over his shoulder like a bag of pokemon food. I was so stunned I didn't know how to react, and Riolu nearly fell out of my coat. I caught him mid air as Travis tossed me up onto the sleigh.

"Lu?" Riolu opened his eyes slowly, not wanting to have been so rudely awakened.

"Travis! What do you think you're doing?" I swung my leg over to hop off the sleigh, but he hopped on and grabbed my arm, jerking me toward him. "Stop it!" I squirmed as he whipped the reins for the rapidash, making us move forward quickly. "Let me off right now!"

He let go of my arm, but didn't stop the sleigh. "Shonna, just sit down and enjoy the ride."

I crossed my arms, jumping a little with every bump. "If you don't let me off right now, I'm going to make Rapidash stop and give you a flamethrower to the face. And he'll do it too!"

Travis slowed the pair of horses down, but never came to a complete stop. "I knew you wouldn't come with me if I asked, so I…"

"What? Kidnapped me?" I screamed, making Riolu hold his ears.

"No I…" Travis looked down. "I just really wanted to take you on a ride okay? You always walk around looking so depressed. I thought you would like this."

"Luuuu…" Riolu growled at him, barely able to hold his head up.

"Travis, can't you just leave me alone? I don't want you to cheer me up." I held Riolu close to me as we trotted along.

"So that's it?" He looked over at me without turning his head. "You're just going to live your life forever as sad soul waiting on some make believe boyfriend of yours?"

I could feel myself tense up in anger, and then, I let it drain out of me. "You need to forget whatever delusional dreams you have of being with me." Although I knew this would hurt his feelings, I continued. "You're just some no account hick who's going to go back to their daddy's farm. I have bigger dreams than that. I'm going to marry a celebrity someday."

He whipped the reins, making us speed up a bit again. "Is that who your pretend boyfriend is? Some movie star you're pining over?"

"He's not a movie star." I glared. "He's a pokemon master."

"And what about you?" Travis glared back. "You're no better than me. Some girl who's stuck in a hillbilly town, and too stuck up to realize that there's a guy right beside you who'd do anything for you."

I turned to him, looking at him strangely. "You? Ha. You're just like your brother. You're not interested in anything but a booty call."

Travis pulled the sleigh to an abrupt stop. We were high up on a hill outside of town. The snow kept falling down, making it hard to see the few stars that were out. I bundled my coat around me and Riolu, prepared to get off and walk.

"Don't go. I'll drive you back. Just give me a minute." He held onto the reins, but held his head in his hands as well. He didn't speak for a while. "I don't have a lot to offer you. I know that. I'm sure not a pokemon master."

"Honestly Travis, I feel bad for you." I turned away. "I'm no good for you. I'm just a broken shell ever since I came back from Kanto. I suspect I always will be." I looked back at him very seriously. "Look, I don't know how to tell you this, but I feel nothing at all for you. In fact, every time I'm with you, I really wish I was with him."

He adjusted the pink bandana around his neck, as if it were choking him. "If that's the case, maybe I should give up huh?"

"I've been trying to tell you that from the start." I watched as Riolu began to fall asleep on my chest, nestled back in my coat.

"Darn city boys." Travis smiled slightly. "They make it awfully hard on a guy like me."

I sulked. "You still haven't had enough torture?"

"Nope." He grinned widely, looking like his confidence was somehow renewed. "I still have one month to go."

I looked straight now, to the red and blue rapidash in front of me. They turned to stare back. "You're a crazy fool Travis."

"I know it." He lifted off his cowboy hat and placed it on my head. "I know it's not much, but I got you a present too. Merry Christmas."

"Your hat?" I looked up at it as it sat on my head. "That's only slightly better than Stephen's football."

"It's on the inside." He said, rubbing his hand behind his head nervously.

I lifted it off my head, flipping it over to see something pinned on the inside. It was a red metal pin of a flower. What little light was around us made it reflect in the night.

"Travis." I said the classic line, though it was true. "You shouldn't have."

"You don't like it?" He asked as I took the pin off. "It's not a gym badge or anything, but I thought it was pretty."

I gave him back his hat. "It is pretty." I took the pin and put it on the left hand side of the collar to my coat. I didn't really want to offend him any more than I had, and it did match my outfit.

"You're wearing it?" He smiled. "I didn't think you would."

"Thank you." I said, looking down.

"You're welcome." He picked up the reins and got our Rapidash to turn around, headed down the hill. "Hey Shonna," Travis pointed to my right hand. My palm was facing up in my lap. "I never noticed, but you have a scar right there. How'd that happen?"

"I was stupid." I mumbled. "I got a cut and let it get infected. I had to have surgery to get it all cleaned out. It left a big ugly scar."

"Well, I wouldn't say anything on you is ugly." He laughed. "But that is funny."

"My pain is humorous to you now? I'm making headway." I joked.

"No." He laughed once more. "What I mean is that I think it's funny that you take such good care of everyone else around here, but you couldn't take care of yourself."

"Yeah." I sighed. "How about that."

Travis was quiet for a minute. "I know my company doesn't mean much to you, but try and enjoy this ride Shonna. That's all I ask."

"I might… if you give me that memory card."

He glanced at me, smiling. "No. But you're welcome to try and get it."

I turned away, annoyed again. "You can forget that."

"Too bad for you, that picture's not getting deleted."

I'd come to accept that. Mary and John would be mad if I did. I put on a fake smile, but I really was sick of feeling bad. I put a little more enthusiasm in my voice. "Will you drop me off at my house?"

"Sure will." He pulled the reins back a bit as we entered town. Before long, he pulled to a stop at my house. The lights were on, so I knew mom was already home. She'd probably peek out of the window and freak out about this.

Riolu woke up and hopped down to sit on the doorstep. He turned back to look at me and Travis impatiently. I sat beside him for a minute. "Travis, sorry about what I said. I was only trying to make you mad, but I was a lot meaner then I needed to be."

"It's no big deal." He let the reins drop, and walked over to my side of the sleigh. "Here." He reached his arms out. "It's pretty high up, so let me help you down."

"No." I protested. "I don't need help, thanks." I moved my feet over one side of the sleigh and slowly inched one foot over. The other foot didn't hold on the slippery edge and I ended up falling face first into Travis.

"Whoa!" Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around me to catch me.

I felt my eyes widen as I realized how close we were. I felt my stomach twisting and turning, and as I looked up at him, our eyes met. I could feel myself start to blush.

"Lu!" Riolu barked out at us. He gave me an agitated look.

I shoved myself away and bolted for the doorstep, swiftly recalling Rapidash. I could hear the reins fall as he was sucked into his pokeball. I grabbed Riolu and rushed inside, slamming the door behind me.

"Shonna?" I heard mom call. "What's going on?"

I felt my heart start to pound as I raced up the stairs, throwing myself on the bed. Luckily she didn't follow me.

"Lu!" Riolu crawled out of my grip and flopped down on the bed worn out.

I tossed off my coat and slung it to the edge of the bed. I grabbed a pillow and held it tight against my body. The movement of it knocked the Teddiursa doll off the bed. I clung to my pillow, burying my face in it.

"Please no." I prayed. "Not again. I can't handle it again." I gripped onto the pillow tighter, eventually falling asleep from the exhausting day.

**x-x-x**

I could feel the gentle bumping of riding in the sleigh again, but when I looked, a pair of tauros were pulling a wagon I was in. I raised up, seeing Travis in the driver's seat.

"What the…" I jumped back, nearly falling off the back of the wagon. Wherever we were at, it was warm, and not snowing.

"Well good mornin'!" He yelled. "Bout time you woke up. It's time for the morning chores you know."

"Chores?" I looked around as he drove to an unfamiliar house, with a huge barn beside it. "Where am I?"

"You forgot already." He hung his head. "You agreed to come back home with me, remember?"

"I did no such thing!" I screamed. "Where's my pokemon?"

"They stayed at the day-care center in Sinnoh." He said matter-of-factly.

"What?" This time I did fall off the wagon in shock, and tumbled into the dirt. "Ugh." I groaned, sitting up and wiping off my glasses. When I put them back on, a bunch of Miltank were staring me in the face.

"Mil!" One of the miltank squirted milk all over me, getting it in my hair.

"Now girls!" Travis laughed as he pulled the wagon to a stop and walked up to me. "Sorry Shonna. They're just a little jealous."

I stood up, thinking this all was just too crazy. It had to be a dream. I closed my eyes and tried to will myself awake.

"Well howdy youngin'." A deep voice said from behind me. I turned to see a man that looked like an older version of Travis, looking me up and down. "You sure are mighty pretty." He grit through his teeth, chewing on a piece of wheat.

"Hey dad!" Travis wrapped one arm around my shoulder, but I shoved him away. "She's a fiery one, but she'll be great around here."

"Well can't say we don't need an extra hand." Travis's dad continued to eyeball me. He must've been where Travis and Stephen get their perverted streak. "She can start by milking all the Miltank. We're gonna have a lot of trainers come through today asking for moo moo milk!"

Both of them turned, headed toward the barn. I stood there stunned, and as they turned their backs to me, I bolted down the hill, running as fast as my legs would carry me. "I've… gotta… get outta here!"

Then I heard it. The roar of an engine, the glisten of red heading down the road toward me. The huge motorcycle was headed right for me. It braked hard, almost hitting me, then skidded around and pulled to a stop. He stepped off, pulling a helmet off his head to reveal his auburn hair, and green eyes that pierced through me.

"Kyle!" I screamed, running to him. I wanted to throw my arms around him, but he pushed me away.

"Don't touch me, you filthy tramp."

I stepped back, hurt by his words. "What?"

"You heard me." He glared. "Don't touch me."

"Kyle, what's wrong?" I could feel hot tears welling up in my eyes.

"You. You're what's wrong!" He screamed. "You leave me like yesterday's news, and go back home to fall for the first country bumpkin you can find? All that in less than six months! Meanwhile I've been losing sleep over you."

"But I didn't!" I yelled back. "Please, take me with you. I don't want to be here."

"Now it's back to me huh?" He pulled the leather gloves on his hands tighter up on him. "You just go with whatever guy is in your life at the time."

"Why are you acting like this?" I felt my shoulders slump.

"You made your choices Shonna. And now, you're going to have to live with the repercussions." He slipped his helmet back on and hopped on his bike.

"Don't go!" I screamed out, inaudible and choking over the loud engine as exhaust fumes blew back on me, and mud sloshed up from the road. He took off, without another word.

"Hey!" Travis yelled from up the hill. "What are you doing? You gotta get up here so I can teach you how to milk the miltank."

"This has to be a nightmare." I pinched myself, stomped the ground. I did anything I could to just wake up.

**x-x-x**

"Lu!" Riolu was barking at me. I woke up, sweating, and I had the blanket wrapped around me in a weird way. My pillow was in the floor, and daylight was starting to peek through the windows.

"Please don't let it be time…" I glanced over to the clock. "7:00. Should have known." I only had an hour to get ready. I rolled over, facing Riolu. "I'm sorry Riolu. I'm sure you didn't get a good sleep either thanks to me."

"Lu." He rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Well, I'm supposed to be getting ready soon." I remembered last night and cringed. "I wonder if I can call in sick today."

"Luuuu!" Riolu yawned loudly.

I picked up my coat from the edge of the bed, pulling the latch on the red pin off. I latched it back and held it in my hand. "No way. There's no way I'm letting that awful dream come true. I'm not going to let anyone get to me today." I ran down the stairs, still in my clothes from yesterday. Mom was downstairs sipping on some hot chocolate.

"Morning." She held up her newspaper. "You're up early."

I smiled, laying the pin down on the table beside her. "Happy Birthday."

"Wow." She touched the pin with her finger. "That's pretty! But it's not my birthday."

"It'll look nice with your work outfit. Wear it sometime okay?" I winked heading back up the stairs to get ready for work.


	9. Malice on the Battlefield!

**x-x-x**

Episode 8: Malice on the Battlefield!

I held my head high as I stepped into the day-care center that morning. Everyone, including John was inside, and they stopped to look up at me. I watched their heads turn as I hummed a tune and tossed Riolu into the air. He giggled at me as we walked into the field. I sat him down in the snow. "Go play Riolu." I smiled as he ran off to chase Butterfree and Vaporeon, and toss snowballs at them.

I walked back inside, still humming as I picked up the clipboard. I checked off all the pokemon I'd seen outside, and Pikachu, who was curled up on the counter inside. Mary and John just looked at me suspiciously as they walked down the halls. Stephen and Travis looked like polar opposites of each other this morning. Stephen scowled at me, and glared up at his brother. I silently wondered if he might have heard of our late night sleigh ride last night. Meanwhile Travis held a goofy looking grin. I simply smiled before walking out, intent on not letting either of them ruin my day.

Travis followed me outside, though I was hoping he wouldn't. He scooped out pokemon food for everyone's breakfast, then inched his way closer. I remained still, flipping through papers on the clipboard. There was nothing on the agenda today.

"So…" Travis stepped a little closer. "You seem awfully happy today."

"Yep." I pretended to flip through the papers again. A cold gust of air hit me, making me shiver a bit. "I am happy."

Travis adjusted the bandana around his neck. "I think I know why too."

"Is that so?" I smiled.

"Yep." He smiled back. "This has to do with last night right?"

"In a sense, yes." I nodded, recalling my insightful dream.

He looked so giddy he might just hop out of his snakeskin boots. "And?"

"And?"

"And…"

"And what?" I laughed.

"And you like me, right?"

I smirked. "Well, I did come to a decision on who I like last night."

He put his hands on his hips, looking triumphant.

I licked my finger, flipping a page on the clipboard. "It's not you cowboy."

"What?" He frowned, and there was a long pause. "I don't get you Shonna."

"Not many people do." I tucked the clipboard under my arm to look at him. "Sorry to disappoint you, but both you and Stephen are just going to have to accept I'm a lost cause."

"You really are." His eyebrows furrowed as he watched my mom walk by on her way to work. She waved, wearing the pin I'd given her that morning. He sighed, walking back into the center.

I watched as he left. I genuinely did feel bad for him though. He'd picked the worst possible young girl to set his sights on. One that was hung up on a teenage crush over her old rival, friend, and idol. But then again, I knew as soon as he headed back to Johto, he'd find some other pretty girl to cling to.

I leaned over the fencepost, watching the light snow pile up around me. I knew now that the weird feelings I felt last night, had to be a fluke. A product of my loneliness, and the fact that I just get embarrassed far too easily. After all, I loved Kyle. And even if he hates me now, that would never change.

"For the first time in a long while, I feel like I'm making the right choice here." I mumbled to myself. "This whole town may call me crazy, but I don't want to abandon my feelings for him."

"Arr." Travis came out in front of the front door with a snow shovel. He stared at me for a minute, before putting more force than he needed to into shoveling the snow in front of the door.

I watched him for a minute, as he laid the book he was reading on how to win a pokemon league down on a fencepost. Every now and then he would stop to flip a page, or glace at it.

"Hey you."

Travis looked up to me with the first bit of spite I'd seen from him. "What?"

I stood up, pulling a pokeball from my pocket. "I challenge you to a full battle."

"A full battle?" He shoved the snow shovel down in a pile of snow. "Why?"

"It's been a while since I've tried. Heck, it's been a while since I've won, or even done well. Today, I'm feeling like I could win."

He stared back at me for a while, then nodded. "I accept."

"Meet you out on the training grounds in five then." I smiled, running inside to pull some pokeballs from the pc.

**x-x-x**

"Alright!" John yelled as he stood close by, huddling in his coat. "So this will be a full battle between Shonna and Travis. There will be no switching out. The first one to run out of useable pokemon is the loser."

"You sure you'll be okay doing this John?" I asked, spinning a pokeball on my finger. I wasn't very good at it, but I could keep it going for a few seconds.

"Yeah!" He yelled back. "I'm honored to be referee."

"Well thank you." I smiled, watching as Mary and Stephen shivered from the sidelines. "And you two? Will you be okay?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Stephen brought the bench from around back, dusting it off as Mary and him sat down.

"Let's do this." Travis seemed calm.

"Let's see if that book's helped you any." I tossed out my first pokeball. All of my pokemon except Riolu had happily agreed to return to their pokeballs for the battle. Riolu sat obediently behind me. I'd trained him to never rush out into battle again. My first pokemon, Vaporeon, stood strong.

"Okay." Travis looked contemplative before he tossed out a mareep.

"Seems you've learned about a type advantage." I muttered. "Vaporeon! Start out with Water Pulse!"

Vaporeon squirted a jet of water at Mareep, covering its thick wool coat. It wasn't Vaporeon's strongest water attack, but there wasn't enough water around for her to do her Surf attack effectively.

"Eep!" Mareep shook off angrily.

"Mareep!" Travis called. "Use Charge!"

I watched carefully as Mareep charged up electricity. The water conducted the electricity at an even higher level, making Mareep's coat stand up on end. She was a big static filled fluff ball.

"Now Tackle!" Travis clenched his fists.

"Dodge it Vaporeon! Don't let it touch you!" Vaporeon flipped and danced about, easily missing each charge. The water may have made the electricity stronger, but it also made Mareep much slower and weighed down.

"If you can't touch it with your body, try with your Thundershock!"

"Ice Beam the tail!" I screamed.

"Por!" Vaporeon opened her mouth, freezing the end of Mareep's tail, which is where the electricity would normally surge out from.

"Eeep! Mareep!" Mareep struggled to try and make her thundershock break through, but the outlet for it was frozen solid. She stared at her tail in shock as nothing happened, and the electricity on her wool coat fizzled out as well.

Seizing the brief opportunity, I reacted. "Vaporeon Bite!"

"Por!" She rushed in, clenching her jaws on Mareeps leg.

"Eep!" Mareep fell over.

"Mareep is unable to battle." John stated.

"Return." Travis held up his pokeball, and smiled down at it. He put it back on his belt and pulled his next one. "Go Tauros."

I shuddered at my memories of my dream as the beast thrashed angrily. Without command, it charged toward Vaporeon. "Jump!"

"Horn Attack!"

There wasn't enough time to dodge left or right. Vaporeon was forced to try and leap over the behemoth bull. Tauros reared its head up, jabbing its sharp horn into Vaporeon's side.

"Por!" Vaporeon toppled over, pawing at her injury.

"Vaporeon, you okay?"

"Por." Vaporeon sprang up, looked stunned, but still able to battle.

"Rage!" Travis yelled. I thought his tauros was already pretty enraged, but now it doubled its power, and charged toward Vaporeon again.

Once again, I was left with little time to react. "Bite!" Just as Tauros got within grasp, Vaporeon bit down hard on its face, latching on.

"Ros!" Tauros jerked its head, jerking Vaporeon around with it. I could see her getting cut on the horns. She finally let go and was thrown out of the ring.

"Vaporeon is unable to battle." John said as I recalled her.

"What a big bunch of brute strength. I need something to compensate for that." I watched as the Tauros snorted at me. He had a look that sort of imitated that of his trainer. I laughed a bit at this. "Go Butterfree!"

"Free!" Butterfree floated up in a spiral, happily dancing in the air.

"Poisonpowder!" Butterfree floated over Tauros, spraying the mist of poison on it.

"Darn." I heard Travis mumble. "Try to get it down with Horn Attack!"

The tauros tried with much effort to raise up and pierce Butterfree. Butterfree floated up in a mocking way each time he tried. Agitated, Tauros now charged at Butterfree.

"Silver Wind!"

"Free!" Butterfree lowered to his level but flapped his wings powerfully at Tauros. Snow and fine particles blew into Tauros's eyes, stinging them. The bull shook his head, keeping his eyes closed.

"Now to end this." I looked up to Butterfree. "Psychic."

Butterfree nodded, facing back to the battle. I prided myself on how well I'd trained my butterfree in psychic abilities.

"What's she up to?" Travis mumbled. He glanced over to his brother, Mary and John, who were all watching wide-eyed behind him. He turned around to see a huge boulder floating effortlessly above him, coated in a purple glow. "What the… how?" It rested in the air just above Tauros now. "Tauros! Look out! Move!"

Butterfree dropped the boulder dead center on Tauros. It broke into chucks on the sturdy pokemon, but it had to hurt. Tauros looked dizzy from the hit, and flopped into the snow.

"Tauros is unable to battle." John smiled, watching Travis recall it. "You're both doing great!"

"Thanks John." I smiled back as Travis released his red Rapidash. "Ah. Fire against bug."

"Flame Wheel!" Rapidash charged forward, flames burning brightly. Most pokemon roll when they use this move, but Rapidash aren't really good rollers. This looked like a really toned down version of my Rapidash's Flare Blitz. Butterfree easily dodged it by flying straight up.

"Poisonpowder!"

"Fire Spin." This time, the fire rose up a bit in a spiral as Rapidash ran circles around Butterfree. Most of the powder burnt up in the air.

"Psychic."

Travis jerked his head to look behind him. There was nothing there. This time, he should have been kept looking in front of him. I watched as Butterfree happily dumped a big pile of snow from the center's roof on Rapidash.

"Errrr!" Rapidash groaned, standing up from the snow. His flames on his back were weak now.

"Free free!" Butterfree floated down a bit, laughing.

"Take down! Then Ember!" Travis yelled.

Rapidash sped forward and brought its hooves down on Butterfree, pinning it down. It spat small embers down on it.

"Confusion!" I watched as Butterfree enveloped Rapidash in a purple glow, and the horse looked around, unsure of what to do. Butterfree flew up, freeing itself, and dumped more snow on Rapidash. This time, the horse didn't get back up.

"Rapidash is unable to continue."

"Awesome Butterfree!" I hugged him tight, but he was tuckered out. I recalled him. "Butterfree was done."

"Okay." John nodded. Next, Travis tossed out his fearow.

"Pikachu!" I tossed out her pokeball and was pleased to see her standing strong. When we first came back from Kanto, she was too depressed, and couldn't battle at all. She was doing much better now. Helping the other pokemon around here had really done her some good. "Use Thunder!"

Lightening erupted out of the snowy clouds above, just barely missing the fearow.

"Row!" It crowed, looking surprised as some static fizzled in the air.

"Pika." Pikachu's cheek lit up with sparks. She stared up at Fearow confidently.

"Fury Attack!"

"Quick attack, and Slam!"

Fearow swooped down, drilling its long beak on Pikachu.

"Chu!" Pikachu growled, using quick attack to escape. She jumped back, gaining momentum as she lunged into it with a slam attack. Fearow rolled around in the snow, struggling to fly back up and get away.

"Aerial Ace!" Now Fearow flung itself forward, striking Pikachu with the unavoidable attack. "And Fury Attack!"

"He's attacking relentlessly." I muttered, watching Fearow fly up, just to start diving back down. "Put a stop to it with Flash!"

"Pi!" I closed my eyes as Pikachu lit up with bright yellow light. The whole sky was blindingly bright. I could everyone groan.

"Ow!" Stephen whined. "So bright!"

"Pikachu!" I tried to squint. "Use Thunder!"

"Pika…Chu!" Pikachu let loose her attack, but for a few seconds, it was impossible to tell if it had worked. I waited for the flash to dissipate, and could plainly see a fried fearow, twitching in the snow.

"Feh." Travis spat to the side. "Return." He held up a new pokeball. "Croconaw!" The little alligator pumped up his arm muscles, trying to look strong.

"A water type?" I laughed. "Here I thought you'd learned something."

"I'm going to have to rely on more than type advantages if I want to be a good trainer." Travis popped his knuckles in a fist. "Croconaw, Water Gun!"

Croconaw's water gun was pretty intense, almost to the level of a hydro pump now. I couldn't see Pikachu through the thick stream of water.

"Pi!" Pikachu flopped over in the snow from the strong blast. When the water finally seized, Croconaw was nowhere in sight, but there was a mound of snow piled up around a hole.

I grit my teeth. "I didn't know it knew dig. That could be a problem. Pikachu! Be on alert!"

"Ice Fang!" Travis yelled out. Then, Croconaw pounded Pikachu from below the ground. Being as close as it was, Croconaw latched onto Pikachu, refusing to let go. The area around the bite began to freeze.

"Pikachu! Thunder!" I felt relieved to see Pikachu slam down tons of electricity on the close up Croconaw.

"Naw!" Croconaw let go of his bite on Pikachu, but that didn't stop the intense electricity that surged through to him. He flopped into the snow, knocked out.

"Pikachu! Stop!" She did as I said and stopped her attack. "You shouldn't get that close Travis! You can really get hurt that way."

"Yeah I know." He glared at me angrily. I meant it as just a tip, but I got the feeling he was thinking of it in a different way.

I let out a sigh as John declared it, and Travis returned it, only to toss out his last one, a sandshrew. "A Sandshrew. There's not much Pikachu can do against that."

"Rollout Sandshrew!" Travis set out his command quickly, and sandshrew rolled forward just as quickly. He was just about to strike Pikachu, when I recalled her. Sandscrew screeched to a stop.

John and Travis both looked at me questionably. John spoke up first. "Umm… you know you can't use her now right? That was the rules we agreed to."

"Yeah. But Pikachu won't do well against a ground type. Besides, she was pretty tired." I pulled out my next pokeball. "And, I still have 2 pokemon left." I looked down at Delcatty's pokeball. I'd talked him into leaving his luxurious lifestyle for today, but I didn't want to make him fight if I didn't need to. I smiled, pocketing the pokeball.

"What now?" Travis grumbled.

I turned around, smiling at my patient little pokemon who sat in the snow. "You're up Riolu."

"Lu!" Riolu jumped up, rushing out to our makeshift ring in the snow.

"Okay…" Travis groaned. "Sandshrew continue with your Rollout!"

"Foresight Riolu!" I smiled as Riolu stood with his eyes closed and waited as Sandshrew charged forward. At the last possible moment, he detected an escape, and lunged out of the way. Sandshrew's attack missed. "Quick attack!" Now Riolu jumped back at Sandshrew, smacking into him.

"Shrew…" Sandshrew growled.

"Fury swipes!"

"San!" Sandshrew extended its claws, slashing away at Riolu.

"Lu!" Riolu fell backwards, but quickly stood back up.

"Counter!"

Riolu slammed into Sandshrew, doubling back twice the power. Sandshrew flipped over on its back.

"Get up!" Travis yelled.

"Force Palm!" I didn't want to give sandshrew the chance.

Riolu jumped on Sandshrew and smacked him hard across the face with his aura. Sandshrew's head went limp and fell back into the snow. Riolu hopped off happily, running toward me. "Lu lu!"

I watched as Sandshrew slowly stood back up, lunging at Riolu from behind.

"Riolu! Dodge left!" I yelled.

Without even looking behind, Riolu trusted my order and rushed to the left. Sandshrew ran into me, knocking me to the ground.

"Ouch." I sat up in the snow, watching the shocked sandshrew jump back.

"Lu!" Riolu growled at Sandshrew, pouncing onto its back. He smacked him again with a force palm, this time knocking him out.

"Sandshrew is unable to battle!" John called. "Shonna is the winner!"

Travis recalled him, with a scowl on his face. "Yeah yeah." He began digging through his wallet for some prize money.

"Don't worry about it." I put my hand up. "I don't need it. But, I think you should know, that you could have won, if you'd been more excited about the battle. Pokemon can sense if you believe in them or not."

"I don't want your advice." He spat.

John stepped forward, pulling his coat closer around himself. "Travis, you haven't been yourself today. Why don't you take the rest of the day off."

Travis just looked away.

Mary came forward now. "John, you don't look like you're feeling well. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea for you to be out here like this."

John held a hand over his head. "You're probably right. I'd better go home too." He looked over to me. "Shonna, you and Travis go heal up your pokemon okay?" Mary and him began walking to their house, which was not too far away.

Riolu hopped to my shoulder, where I gave him a good congratulatory petting. Me and Travis walked silently to the pokemon center. As we got to the door, I noticed Stephen following behind. He looked around, like even he didn't know what he was doing.

Travis nudged me with elbow. "You want to use the pokehealer first, or should I?"

"Oh. You can." I waited in line behind him, still watching Stephen as he walked over to eye the nurse joy.

"So." Travis sat the pokeballs on the machine. "You really didn't like that pin at all huh?"

I turned to look back at him. "It's not that. I just can't wear it to work you know? It'd get all dirty."

"So you figured your mom would get more use out of it?"

I didn't answer.

Stephen ran up to us as Travis collected his healed pokemon. "Hey are you guys talking about Shonna's mom? Oh man, she's hot."

"Lu." Riolu imitated my disgusted expression from my shoulder. I sat my pokeballs on the healer, waiting for the beep. He seemed fine, so I didn't bother healing him.

"Stephen." I turned around, leaning on the machine. "Why are you even here? Nobody's watching the center right now. Shouldn't you be there?"

"No!" He whined. "Why would I do that? That means more work!"

"You lazy bum." The machine beeped, and I returned my pokeballs to the pocket on the front of my hoodie. "Do you plan on doing nothing there but sweep forever? I don't know why Mary and John even keep you around. Well, sure I do." I was angry now. "They just keep you around because your family begged them to let you work there. If it wasn't for that, they would have fired you a long time ago!"

The pokecenter door opened now, and a young woman with bright orange hair walked in. Her hair hung in one long French braid. She wore a short sleeve shirt and an overall combo that she'd cut off to be a miniskirt. I had no idea how she was able to wear something like that in our cold climate. Her name was Sheena, and while her name was similar to mine, I despised her for her reputation in town. She was known to charm the pants off of every man she sets her sights on in town. Quite literally.

She walked in, looking around the room, finally resting her overly make-up covered eyes on us. A big grin came across her face as she approached us. "Now Shonna, you wouldn't be harassing these boys now would ya?"

I didn't say anything. Stephen's eyes lit up with recognition. Travis and him both stared at her, looking up and down.

"Whoa! Sheena!" Stephen smiled brightly. "What are you doing here? I thought you went on vacation."

"Oh I did." Sheena ignored him and walked up to Travis. "But I left the resort area pretty quickly when I got word that there was a new man in town." She pushed her body forward, to where it was nearly touching him. "I wanted to come check him out." She whispered. "And I must say, I like what I see."

Travis looked stoic. I couldn't tell if he liked the attention or not. He glanced up at me.

"Dude. Not cool." Stephen grumbled. "She's still not interested in me. It's not fair bro! How do you get Shonna and Sheena?"

"Excuse me?" I glared at him, making Stephen inch his way out the door. I could only hope he was going back to work.

"You?" Sheena whirled around with a jealous look. "I don't get why every guy around here takes a liking to you." She put her hands on her hips and looked me up and down. "You may have some sort of body under all those frumpy clothes, but with those glasses, you're such a nerd. Not too mention, you're so darn picky." She now pressed her body on Travis, wrapping her slender arms around his neck. "She just plays with guy's feelings, only to deny their every advance. Doesn't she?"

Travis smiled at her. "Yeah, but being picky is not a bad thing."

She smiled back. "I might have to change your mind. You working cowboy? I'd like to get to know you better."

"He just got the rest of the day off." I stated. "Lucky you Sheena." I walked out, not willing to take anymore abuse from her. Whether she manages to seduce Travis or not, was none of my concern.

**x-x-x**

I locked the door that night to the center, and started walking home. Riolu laid himself across my shoulder.

"You did great today in the battle Riolu." I smiled, petting his head as snow gently fell around us. "I'm so proud of you."

"Lu!" He held his head high.

"Tomorrow's our training day." I said as we walked past the pokemart. "You ready for that?"

"Lu." He nodded, then jerked his head right. His staring made me turn, to see two people leaned against the back door of the pokemart. Only a small porch light was illuminating them. It was Sheena and Travis, and they practically had their tongues down each others throat. I turned away not wanting to see them making out anymore, and heading further down the road.

"So, your true colors come out cowboy." I smiled, shaking my head. "I finally drove you away."

"Lu?"

I pet Riolu once more. "Giving away that pin must have been the straw that broke the camerupt's back."

**x-x-x**

For the next few weeks, Travis was happy again. Him and Sheena became an "item", and the talk of the town. He didn't try hitting on me for a while, but when things didn't work out, and Sheena went back on her avid vacations she loved to take, him and Stephen were right back to it. I spent the rest of the month awaiting the day he would head back for Johto.


	10. A Virus Attacks!

**x-x-x**

Episode 9: A Virus Attacks!

_Month Six - January_

"I'm Dr. Charon Pluto, second in command of Team Galactic." The man grumbled, running a hand through what was left off his gray hair. It only held hints of the dark violet color it once had. "And this experiment is proving to be terribly mundane to my tastes." He adjusted his glasses, reviewing the monitors on the pokemon before him. All the stats on this Chikorita were normal, for now. "I realize of course that this pokerus virus would prove highly useful in powering up our pokemon, but it has nothing to do with our ultimate mission!" He grit his teeth as he filled the syringe up with fluid. "And it has proven incredibly arduous to recreate synthetically. No matter what I do, it never comes out right." He walked toward the restrained Chikorita with no expression. This sort of thing used to bother him, but it sparked no emotion for him now.

"Chika!" The tiny green pokemon tried to wriggle free, but everything, including the giant leaf on her head was held down with metal restraints. "Chika-chik!" She held a look of fear in her large red eyes.

He plunged the needle into her soft green skin, delivering the serum.

"Chika!" The Chikorita screamed out, struggling as the virus coursed through her.

"There." He pulled out the needle, and immediately turned to the monitors. "Now to see if it worked."

A grunt walked in, just as the stats on the screen began to climb. "Dr. Pluto sir? Cyrus sent me to get word on how this project is going."

He didn't respond, but watched as the chikorita's stats doubled, and visibly, the muscles in her body tensed up and enlarged. "This could be it." He smirked.

"Chika!" The Chikorita began fighting her restraints, nearly pulling loose from them with incredible strength.

"Yes. Yes!" Dr. Pluto grinned, reveling in his genius.

"Chik…" Chikorita suddenly dropped her defenses, relaxing on the table. She looked ill now.

"Drat." Pluto spat. "It was so close too."

"Sir?" The grunt approached him cautiously.

"You can tell Cyrus I'm done trying to recreate pokerus. It's a symbiotic relationship between virus and host, and the only version I've found that can be reproduced by human hands, ends up making the pokemon actually ill. I'm closing this mission, whether he likes it or not." Pluto released the restraints on the motionless Chikorita and handed it to the grunt. "I have better things to do with my time then waste it on this. Dispose of this pokemon."

The grunt took the pokemon uneasily. "What do you want me to do with it?"

"Like I care." Pluto turned his back. "Throw it out with all the other failed experiments. Just be sure you get it far away from here. It will infect all the pokemon in the lab if we don't get it out soon.

"Yes sir." The grunt left through a back door in the lab, heading straight outside.

"Chika…" The chikorita groaned, barely able to hold her eyes open.

"Gosh." The grunt looked down at her sadly. "I'm sorry little thing, but I can't help you. The only thing I can do, is make sure you spend your last days in a better place than this."

"Chik." The Chikorita closed her eyes as the galactic bundled her up under a long trench coat.

**x-x-x**

I yawned from the front desk of the day-care center. Glancing up, I saw that ridiculous picture sitting there in a frame. I pushed it down onto the counter, wishing I could pitch it. I hated that picture. Though it was the only photo we had of us, I hated how Travis had made it look. Somehow in that split second, I looked like his girlfriend. Him with his arm around me, and me staring deep into his eyes.

I scoffed at it. It had been a boring day, with no customers. The only amusement I had got out of the day, was when Riolu had snuck behind Stephen while he was sleeping on the job, and gave him a good force palm to the shin. He nearly scared the pants off Stephen. I chuckled remembering it, as the bell went off on the front door. A man with green hair in a bob cut walked in with a thick brown trench coat and hat. He gave me the creeps, and I wondered what he had held under his bulging coat.

"Can I help you?" I stuttered.

"I have a pokemon to drop off." The man slowly lifted a very weak looking chikorita up to the counter.

"Sure." I pulled out a paper for him to fill out, and handed it to him. "Sir, this Chikorita doesn't look well. Is it alright?"

"Yeah." He scribbled away with the pen nervously. "It's just tired. We just got off from a hard battle." He shoved the paper back into my hands.

The chikorita just closed her eyes, dozing off on the counter. "I really think you should take it to the pokemon center first sir. It doesn't look well at all."

"I already did!" He stammered. "She said it will be fine with a little rest."

I reviewed the form. "You didn't put a time you'd be picking her up at."

"I'll be back later tonight." He rushed toward the door. "Fill that in for me okay? I've really got to hurry and get back to my work now!"

"Hey wait!" I raised my hand up to try and stop him, but the man fled. "Wow. He sure was in a hurry." I looked over the tiny chikorita again. She was breathing hard. "That must have been some battle little one." I stroked her head gently, and she winced at my touch. "Hmm…"

"Lu!" Riolu burst in through the small flap door on the door to the field. He hopped up onto the counter to see the new pokemon. Pikachu came from the rear of the room and did likewise. I watched as they inspected the pokemon. "Lu?" Riolu leaned in close.

"Pi cha!" Pikachu held him back.

"Lu lu." Riolu whined, wanting to greet the chikorita.

"Stay back Riolu. She may be sick." I scooped up the Chikorita in my arms, and headed out the door. I quickly headed by the field, when Travis ran over to me.

"Hey Shonna! Where are you going?" He yelled.

"To the pokemon center! I think this pokemon that just got dropped off is sick. Tell Mary if she comes back where I went, and keep an eye on Stephen."

"Will do." He headed inside as I walked toward the pokemon center. It was just across the dirt road from the day-care center, and I was glad of it. I rushed inside.

"Shonna?" Nurse Joy jerked her head up from the counter to look at me.

"Nurse Joy," I handed her the chikorita. "Someone just dropped off this pokemon. Something's wrong with her. I can tell."

"Let me see." She took it over to a scanning machine that ran over the Chikorita's body. It took a few minutes, but it eventually yielded some results on the monitor. "Thank goodness." She sighed.

"What is it Nurse Joy?"

"It's only the Pokerus virus." She lifted chikorita up and placed her back into my arms.

"That sounds bad!" I exclaimed.

"It's really not." She smiled. "It's a very rare life form that affects pokemon from time to time. I've never actually seen a case, but everything I've read says it's a good thing. It makes your pokemon very strong. They grow at twice the level they would normally."

"Wow." I looked down at the weary chikorita. "So then, why is it so tired? The guy said they'd been battling hard, but I don't know if I buy it."

"It's probably true." Joy pet the leaf on Chikorita's head. "I mean, maybe he was training it too hard, trying to make it evolve."

"If that's the case, why would he stop to drop it off with us?"

Joy didn't seem concerned. "Well, you all train the pokemon while they're at the center right? Maybe he knew he couldn't, so he wanted to leave it somewhere where it could still get some training in." She smiled again. "Trust me Shonna, all the studies on pokerus so far have proven it harmless. And, it should wear off within 24 hours."

"What do you recommend then Joy?" I readjusted chikorita in my arms.

"Well, I can keep it and monitor it through the night, but I believe it just needs rest, which you can give it as well, right?"

"Yeah sure." I held chikorita up high, trying to cheer it up. "I know a nice comfy stable back at the center where you could take a nap Chikorita."

"Chika chik." Chikorita gave a hint of a smile to me.

"Come on then." I walked out, and back across the road. I carefully hopped the fence and approached the barn. It was nice, and well-kept thanks to Travis. Then again, he had experience cleaning barns. "The pokemon come in here when the weather gets bad. But you can rest here tonight." I sat her down on the soft hay. "I'll come back to check on you chikorita. You get to feeling better." I left her to sleep, and closed the barn door behind me. "It sure would be cool to have all my pokemon get strong, but I wouldn't dare subject them to a virus, even if Nurse Joy says it's beneficial." I huffed off back into the center. Stephen and Travis turned to look at me as I walked in.

Travis's eyebrows furrowed. "I called the number on this form to tell the guy his pokemon was sick. It was a bad number. Says it was disconnected."

"This is all really strange." I held a hand to my chin. "I'm worried about this whole situation."

"Lu!" Riolu reached his arms out, begging me to pick him up. I did so, and he crawled up to my shoulder.

"Pika pi." Pikachu had a grave look on her face.

**x-x-x**

I checked on the chikorita several times during the day. She had gained a little color to her skin, and her breathing was not as labored, but she slept the whole evening. "Your trainer overdid it with you." I shook my head in anger as I walked out, making sure to close the door behind me. Riolu sat outside impatiently as the sun began to set. "Yes I know." I smiled at him as he followed me inside the center.

Travis noticed me signing out. "You leaving already Shonna?"

"Yes. You and Stephen will have to close today. I didn't get to on Saturday, so I promised Riolu we would spend this evening training." I looked down at him with a smile.

"Lu!" He jumped happily.

"I see." Travis grinned. "Well don't worry about it. I can take care of it."

"It's not you I worry about." I switched my gaze to Stephen.

He just laughed as I walked out.

"Lu! Lu!" Riolu sang happily as we walked to the northern part of town. There was a big empty field up there that we loved to train at.

"You seem in good spirits Riolu!"

"Lu!" Riolu raced to the field, almost invisible in the tall grass.

I knew Riolu loved to train, but I only did so during the evening. I had done a little research, and found out that he could evolve if I trained him during the day, and we had met a certain level of friendship.

"Lu!" Riolu popped out of the grass, making me jump.

"Whoa! You scared me!"

"Lu lu lu!" He laughed at me. The expression on his face, and the happy aura signals I was getting from him, made me certain that we were already friendly enough to meet that requirement.

**x-x-x**

"Stephen! Come on!" Travis yelled from across the road. "I've already taken care of everything, and you know Ma will be mad if we ain't home in time for supper!"

"Hang on bro! One of the pokemon took my favorite football! I'll be there as soon as I get it back."

"You really shouldn't bring things like that to work!" Travis sighed. "Fine. I'm headed on. I'll tell her you'll be late." He walked off toward their home.

"Now. Come here you little vaporeon!" Stephen crept toward Shonna's pokemon, watching as she held the football gently in her mouth. "Give it back or else!" He charged toward her, only to have the pokemon leap away. He couldn't stop himself in time to not fall straight into the pond. "Ah jeez! Not again! You did that last time too!" He climbed out, soaking wet.

"Por por por!" The Vaporeon laughed, tossing the football to Shonna's Butterfree.

"Give me that!" He lunged for it, but the butterfree floated up, out of reach.

"Free!" It chucked the football to a gible on the grounds, and the pokemon clenched onto it with its sharp fangs, making the ball pop.

"No! No! No!" Stephen screamed. "That was signed by my favorite quarterback!" He grabbed the limp football angrily. "Stupid pokemon!"

His yelling made them flee to their hiding spots.

Stephen threw the flimsy football, feeling mad. It slung into the barn door. "Hey hold up." He struggled to think. "Shonna told me once that the barn door was supposed to be open at night, so the pokemon could go in and sleep if they wanted. Bro must have forgot! Ah man, she'd chew his head off for that." Stephen shoved open the wooden door. "He'll thank me for this later. Heck, maybe Shonna will thank me too." He secretly imagined her clinging to his muscled arm, falling all over him with gratitude. "Heheh." He chuckled. "Oh yeah." He skipped over the fence and toward his home, just as some of the pokemon began to approach the stable.

**x-x-x**

I looked toward the stars now, as they lit up the night sky. I was sitting on a rock, head in my hands. I was growing used to life now, but I couldn't resist daydreaming of Kanto. Or maybe not even Kanto, only its resident I so badly wanted to see once more. Though it was slowly getting easier, my heart still longed for him. I imagined him right beside me, telling me how to go about training Riolu. Giving me helpful tips.

"That sounds like something he'd do." I looked down at the grass, now imagining him telling me I was beautiful, or that he needed me just as much as I needed him. It was a foolish daydream, and though it made my heart flutter, it didn't last long before turning into the same dull ache. I looked up to the full moon, wondering if he might be looking at it too. Though I rarely spoke it, his name escaped my lips. "Oh Kyle…" I whispered to myself.

"Lu!" Riolu kicked a tall rock in front of me, grabbing my attention. The rock smashed into dozens of little pieces.

"Wow Riolu." I watched in amazement as he kicked each piece into dust. "I'm impressed. You're looking really strong tonight."

"Lu." He smiled, approaching another rock, this one was even bigger. It was at least ten times bigger than him.

"Riolu! That's too big for you!" I yelled. "You've got to start small!"

"Lu!" He pounded the rock with a force palm across the base. I was amazed to see it split in two, then crumbled around him. "Lu lu lu lu lu!" He cried as he kicked each piece into rubble.

"Riolu?" I stood, scooping him into my arms. He was so excited, he almost had a go at me.

"Lu!" He pulled his paw back with a look of apology.

"It's okay." I said, holding him close. "But I think that's enough for tonight. Let's head on home."

"Lu." He looked disappointed, but sat up on my shoulder as I walked back to the house.

**x-x-x**

I yawned, stretching the next morning in the bed. I got up, and got dressed as usual, but Riolu never moved from the bed. He remained huddled up under the covers.

"Hey Riolu. Time to wake-up sleepy head." I gently shook him.

"Lu." He rolled over, pulling the blanket up tighter on him.

"You worked too hard yesterday." I said, putting my hands on my hips. "Fine. You stay here and rest today. I'll come back and check on you at lunch though, so you better be up by then."

"Lu…" He pulled the blanket over his ears now.

I laughed, headed downstairs and out the door. It was a cold and frigid day that morning, making me wish I could go curl up beside Riolu and go back to bed as well. I kept a smile on as I walked into the center. The door was already unlocked. "Hello hello!" I glanced through the hallway. "Anyone here?" There was no answer, and even Pikachu didn't come out to greet me. I signed in and grabbed the clipboard with the roster. Taking notice to the fact that Chikorita's trainer never came back to pick her up, I walked out to the field. Travis was outside. He stood beside the barn and hung his head, pulling his hat down.

"Travis!" I waved. "You're here early!"

He looked up at me with a strange expression, that's when I noticed the barn door open.

"How long has that been open?" I yelled, furious with him. "I trusted you to make sure it stayed closed."

"Stephen told me this morning that he had opened it before he left last night. That's why I rushed over here as soon as I could." His voice was low.

"You guys are so incompetent!" I screamed. "I ask you to close just one day for me and you screw it up!"

He winced, looking hurt from my comment.

I sighed, pushing my way by him. "Well, too late now. So how's the chikorita? Is it feeling any better?" I had almost made it into the barn when Travis grabbed me by the shoulders and held me back. He was forceful about it, making me jump for a split second. "What are you doing?" I yelled. "Let go of me Travis!"

"Don't go in there Shonna." He stepped in between me and the barn. "The Chikorita, it… it passed on."

"What?" I stepped back now, making him drop his hands loosely to his sides. "What… what do you mean?" Nothing like this had ever happened here, and it was incomprehensible to me.

"It's dead." He said bluntly.

"No it can't!" I yelled. "It was still so young. It was getting better!"

"Please don't go in there Shonna." He glanced over to the center entrance. "Mary's here now. I'm going to go tell her what's happened, then get a shovel. Give it a proper burial." As he closed the barn door, I peeked in to see the tiny motionless body inside.

I was still gripping onto my blue clipboard, but I followed Travis inside to hear their conversation.

"What?" Mary threw her things down in surprise. "What do you mean a pokemon died on the premises?"

"I mean just that." Travis reached down to collect the old woman's belongings, sitting them on the counter.

"Was it one of the older pokemon?"

"No, it wasn't." Travis hung his head once more.

"Then," Mary picked up the phone. "It had no apparent reason to die. We should call Nurse Joy over to look at it." Mary looked over at me as the number was dialing, seeing the distress on my face. "Go help Shonna Travis."

"Okay." He turned and took the clipboard from me and walked out to the field. I followed him, unsure of what to do. This whole thing had me stunned. "Shonna, do you see any of the pokemon? They normally come out for us."

I looked around, not seeing any. Including my three. "No, where could they be?"

We took a look around, spying a faint line of vaporeon at the bottom of the pond, asleep. Then, we found the hoothoot and gible that were staying with us, hiding in a bush sleeping. Butterfree sat high in a tree, sleeping away.

"Well they aren't up and raring for the day, are they?" Travis checked each one of the list.

"Something's not right." I reached down to touch Vaporeon in the water, and I could feel her chest moving in and out quickly. My heart nearly dropped to the floor when I realize what had happened.

"Shonna!" Mary cried out. "I phoned for Nurse Joy. She's on her way, but there's something inside here I think you need to see."

I didn't want to leave my pokemon now, but reluctantly followed them inside.

"Cha. Cha. Cha." Pikachu was laying down on her stomach, sweating and breathing hard. She reached her paw out to me. "Piiii…"

"Oh no Pikachu!" I grabbed her up, feeling the tears in my eyes. "How could this have happened?" I held her up close to me. "Whatever that Chikorita had, must have infected all the others! Where is Stephen?" I screamed. "I'm going to kill him for leaving that door open!"

"He ain't coming." Travis stated. "Probably on account of how he thought you'd react." He looked angry as well. "I don't blame you for being mad though Shonna. This is awful."

"The coward!"

"Pi pika…" Pikachu struggled to hold her head up to look at me.

"Pikachu…" I wiped away some tears from my eyes. "Did you and the other pokemon go in the barn to check on Chikorita?"

"Pi. Pika." She nodded sadly.

"I know you were only trying to help." I brushed off some perspiration from her head. "Pokemon always come to one another when they're in need."

It was quiet after this, until the bell sounded above the door.

"Where is it?" Nurse Joy asked, carrying in a doctor's bag.

"Out in the barn." Travis motioned for her to follow him, but as they walked out, I sat Pikachu down in her bed and stomped after them.

"Nurse Joy!" I yelled. "You said that this was just a virus. And a helpful virus at that! You promised that it wouldn't hurt them!"

She just looked at me sadly as her and Travis entered the barn. I was mad at her. I was mad at Stephen. I was mad at just about everyone right now. It took several minutes before Nurse Joy emerged once more.

"All the readings I'm getting say it's pokerus." She looked down. "But something's different about this. It must be a new strain, that makes the pokemon ill as well. This could be a huge problem." She turned to Mary, who stood glumly beside me. "I'm afraid you'll have to close down the center for the time being. We don't want anymore pokemon coming in contact with this. We could have a pandemic on our hands."

"I understand." She nodded.

"Shonna." Joy turned to me. "I'll need a little time to get all the pokemon at the pokemon center right now put back in their pokeballs. After that, we'll get these pokemon over there so I can work with them. We'll have to quarantine the place."

"Right." Though I hated having to waste more time, I knew that was the best course of action.

"I'll work on it as soon as possible." Joy walked back in the center and back to the outside, glancing over to us in the field. "If any of you can think of any more pokemon that may have been exposed to that Chikorita, please bring them over right away. Pokerus spreads from pokemon to pokemon, but I don't know anything about this, so if there were any that any of you had contact with, you'll need to bring them in as well." She took off toward the pokecenter.

Mary just sighed as she walked into the day-care center, flipping the sign on the front door to closed. She walked out without a word.

I rushed over to the pc to video phone home. I prayed mom hadn't left for work yet. The telephone rang, bringing up an image from our living room.

"Shonna? Are you already on break? What's up?" Mom's cheery voice answered.

"Mom! Thank goodness you hadn't left yet!"

"I was just about to." Now she looked concerned. "What's wrong Shonna?"

"I don't have time to explain!" I leaned in toward the screen. "Are Duchess and Delcatty okay? Do they seem fatigued at all?"

Mom glanced down. "No more then their usual cat-napping selves. Why?"

"Are they breathing hard, or sweating any?"

"No…" She looked down again. "Hey you two. Get up and show her you're okay?"

"Dellll!" Delcatty yawned, stretching up to look on the screen.

"Pur!" Duchess leaped up happily.

"Okay good." I sighed in relief. "Mom, could you run and get the pokeballs from my dresser and recall them. There's a virus going around, and I don't want them to catch it."

"Sure!" Her eyes widened and I watched her in the background of the screen run up the stairs.

"I'm so glad you two are okay." I laughed as Duchess and Delcatty pawed at the screen. It was taking mom a while to get back downstairs. When she did, she recalled them.

"Thanks mom!" I smiled, about to close the call.

"Shonna wait!" She looked worried. "The little one, when I went up there, Riolu…"

I could feel my throat drying when I realized I'd forgotten the little pokemon who always sat atop my shoulder. "No." My eyes widened. "Not Riolu!"

"You'd better get over here." She clicked the call off. For a second, I stared at the black screen. Then, I bolted out of the chair, nearly tripping as I ran out the front door. When I stepped outside, I was forced to stop. Officer Jenny and a group of reporters stood waiting.

"Here comes one of the workers!" Suddenly a reporter shoved a microphone in my face. "Can you tell us what happened here?"

"Excuse me!" Officer Jenny attempted to shove them away. "I need a statement on the young man that dropped off the pokemon yesterday!"

"No! Get out of my way!" I looked back at Travis, who leaped the fence to stand beside me.

"Ask me whatever you need to!" He looked back to me, nodding.

For as much as I disliked him, I was grateful that he knew I needed to leave. I shoved my way through the crowd, and began to run, as fast as my legs would carry me. I grabbed the front door knob and jerked it open. Mom stood in the hall, watching me run up the stairs. I jerked the sheet off Riolu, where he was curled up in a fetal position. He was sweating, and breathing hard. "Riolu! No!" I scooped him up in my arms, looking down at him.

"Lu… lu…lu." He exhaled deeply, not even opening his eyes. He felt hot in my arms.

"Hang on Riolu!" I ran down the stairs, and back out the door. Tears were streaming down my face as I made the short run to the pokemon center. The heavy snow that had built up, only made it harder to run. It was locked up, with a quarantine sign on the front door. I pounded on it with one fist. "Let me in! Let me in Nurse Joy!"

She opened the door and took Riolu immediately. As she walked to the back of the center, she spoke sadly. "Officer Jenny took the body of the Chikorita to a research team in Jubilife City. They're going to work on finding a cure." We walked by a glass room where I could see all of the pokemon from the center, with the exception of Vaporeon, already there. "Travis was nice enough to start bringing the pokemon over." She sat Riolu down on a new bed.

"Joy!" Travis's voice startled me as he carried vaporeon in his arms. He was drenching wet, indicating to me, he'd dove into the pond to get her.

"Sit her here Travis." She pointed to an empty bed. Travis sat her down, where she showed similar symptoms to the others. After attending to Vaporeon, Joy went back to Riolu's bed, and rigged up an oxygen mask. He still looked like he was struggling to breathe. "This isn't good." She mumbled.

"What? What is it Joy?" I felt tears run down my face again.

"Riolu is still pretty young right?" She looked back down at him. "His immune system isn't very strong. He's more at risk."

"At risk for what?" I felt numb all over.

Joy looked down, like she didn't want to say. "For the same fate as the young chikorita."

My heart broke when she said that. I gasped, looking down at Riolu as he rolled around a bit, looking uncomfortable. I felt ill, lightheaded, and the world started to turn black around my vision of riolu. I was blacking out. Eventually, it went dark, and I couldn't see a thing. But I could hear. I could hear what sounded like Riolu. He was crying, and I could feel a painful, stabbing pain I hadn't felt since he had ran off into the Lost Tower. He was trying to tell me something through his aura. What was most strange, was I could hear something other than riolu's cry. Something like a small child's voice, but it was muffled under a new voice, one I recognized.

"Wake up!" Travis said, shaking my shoulders. I opened my eyes and saw he was holding me up. I held my head as I gathered the strength to stand on my own. "You fainted."

"For good reason." Joy reminded, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that."

"What can I do?" I shook off my dizzy feeling. "There's got to be something I can do Joy."

"Unfortunately there's not much we can work with. This is a completely new virus to my knowledge. We could wait for a cure, but who knows how long that will be." She stared out the window. "Their fevers are climbing quickly. I'm worried. The treatment we've tried so far as done nothing to lower it."

"Okay, then what?" Travis stepped forward. "What else can we try?"

Joy sighed. "It sure would be nice to have a bunch of Sitrus berries on hand. They might have an effect on the fever."

"Where can we find Sitrus berries?" I yelled.

Joy jumped back a bit. "Um… They don't grow in this area. The closest would be in Sunyshore City, where it's a warmer climate."

"Then I'm going." I clenched my hands in a fist, ready to run out.

"Wait!" Joy called. "You can't Shonna! A blizzard is coming! It's already staring to pour snow out there! Besides, there's no guarantee that there will be any in this cold winter we've had this year."

"Does that matter? I've got to try!" I reached for the front door, watching as Travis and Joy followed behind.

"Okay fine!" Joy grabbed a pokeball shaped object. "Here." She tossed one to me and Travis. "If you find them, stuff as many as you can into these item holders."

"Huh?" I looked up at Travis, who looked just as surprised.

"Well I'm not letting you go alone. That wouldn't be safe!" Joy shoved us out. "Good luck you two! I'll be waiting." She slammed the door, leaving us stunned.

"She's right you know." Travis pulled down on his hat, blocking the snow. "It wouldn't be safe to travel out there alone."

"Whatever. By this point I don't really care. It'll be a short trip anyway." I cupped my hands around my mouth, and took a deep breath. "Aerodactyl!"

I awaited the beating of her huge wings, but she never came.

"I doubt she'll come." Travis said.

"Why not?" I barked back.

"The pokemon know something's going on here. Haven't seen a wild one come near. They're probably avoiding this area. Not to mention, it'd be mighty hard to fly through this snow."

I looked down, feeling defeated. "So, then what do we do?"

"Hey don't cry now!" Travis threw up his hands. "Flying's out, but maybe we could ride on our Rapidashes. They'd be real good in the snow, and keep us warm."

"You're right." I ran forward, away from town, and tossed out Rapidash's pokeball. "He seems fine. Being locked away in the pokeball must have kept him from being exposed."

Travis released his rapidash and hopped on. "Yup! That goes for my pokemon too."

"Okay then." I threw my leg over Rapidash, and placed my hands on the back of his blue fire covered neck. It felt warm to the touch. The snow that was coming down heavily around us, felt like nothing but a slight chill on the back of my warm fire-type.

Soon, Travis rode up beside me, extending his hand. "I know we've never really seen eye to eye, but let's try to make the most of this, for the pokemon."

I looked down at his hand for a minute, before taking it and shaking briefly. "For the pokemon."


	11. The Search for the Sitrus Berry!

**x-x-x**

Episode 10: The Search for the Sitrus Berry!

"I think the quickest way to get to Sunyshore would be through Veilstone City." I kicked Rapidash gently to get him to move. Travis stayed close behind.

"Well you know this region a lot better than I do, so I'll trust you!" He yelled over the whipping wind.

"The only problem is that there's a spot just before that city, that always has pretty heavy precipitation. It's bad when it's rainy, so I'm going to hate to see it now!" We rounded the corner when we got out of town, heading straight into it. It was intense. The snow was blinding, and I had to hunker down as we were pelted by it. I watched as several snowflakes burnt up in Rapidash's mane, but big chunks were still finding there way through. I couldn't do anything but wait out the blizzard, hoping we'd find our way to the end of this rough spot soon.

Rapidash slowed down in the thick snow. Eventually, he came to a stop on slick pavement of the gates to Veilstone City. The snow had lightened as I expected, and was just flurries in this area. "Alright!" I yelled. "We made it through what I think is the worst of it Travis!" When no answer came, I turned around. He wasn't there. "Travis!" I yelled. "Shoot. He'd better not be lost in there." I looked down at Rapidash. "Maybe I should have gone by myself. If I'd known he was going to slow me down."

I waited a few minutes more, but he never emerged from the white area behind me. I began to feel concerned. For as little as I did care about him, I did worry that he might have fallen off his Rapidash or something. If that happened, he could die very quickly in that cold.

"Brr." Rapidash let out a small huffing noise.

"C'mon Rapidash. Let's go back in." We trotted back into the heavy snow, but it was impossible to see anything more than a few feet away. I looked up, to see a fearow flying high above, circling me. When I looked back down, Travis strode up to me.

"Sorry about that!" He yelled. "I got a little lost in there." He recalled his fearow from the sky. "I had Fearow scout you out though."

"I can't afford to waste time looking for you everytime you get lost Travis." I sighed, leading the way out. "There may be some more bad patches of heavy snow up ahead, so stay close okay?"

"Yes ma'am." A sly grin crossed his face as he rode beside me.

"Jeez." I groaned as we sped through the gates to veilstone city.

Our Rapidashes avoided the freshly scraped city roads, and stuck to a shortcut through the snowy path. That was fine by me. We were making good progress, but we slowed down practically to a halt when we got almost to Lake Valor. The snow here was ten times worse than before Veilstone, and our Rapidashes were struggling to lift their hooves out of snow that must have been over a foot tall. Snow kept pouring down, burning my eyes.

"Shonna!" Travis yelled. "I don't know about yours, but my Rapidash can't take much more of this." Travis pointed to my right. "There's a cave over there! Let's stop and let them rest!"

I recognized the cavern. It was the one that sat out in the middle of Lake Valor. But the lake was impossible to find. It was not only frozen over, but covered in deep snow. I guided Rapidash over to it, and we walked inside. It was small, but it would work for a temporary shelter. I slid off Rapidash, letting him lay down on the cave floor and take a rest. Travis did likewise.

I walked over to the cave entrance, peering out. "This is got to be the worst storm Sinnoh's seen in a while." I murmured.

"Yeah I've noticed y'all have a lot of those here." Travis shook out his wet bandana, shaking snow from it, before slipping it back around his neck.

"That we do." I walked back over to him. "I bet it's not like that where you're from. In Johto?"

"No, it certainly ain't." He said quietly.

"You leave tomorrow right?" I asked as I sat down on a large rock.

"Yeah." He sat down on the rock beside me. "I bet you'll be glad."

I turned to him. "I don't care. I mean, you've got to head on home. But you were a big help around the center, so thank you for that."

"No problem." He pulled down on his cowboy hat.

There was a long pause, and somehow I knew he was going to try and start a weird conversation.

"So I asked you this when I first met you, but you say you have a boyfriend, right?"

I didn't want to answer. "Yeah."

"I've never seen him come calling on you."

"He won't be." I whispered.

"He left you?"

"I left him."

"I see." Again, a there was a long pause. "So why'd you leave him?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Might help, if ya did." His accent was thick when he said this.

"Because I'd fallen in love with him okay?" I yelled, echoing through the cavern. I quieted down after that. "I knew he didn't feel the same way."

"And how do you know that?" He asked.

"Because he made fun of me for it. He'd pretend to flirt with me, and made me go crazy for him. Then he'd laugh it off and call me silly."

Travis looked shocked. "Uh, Shonna. That's the way guys act when they really like a girl."

My heart sunk. "You lie."

"No really." Travis leaned back on the rock. "I mean, I guess everyone's different, but that's definitely a way to go about it. So did you ever let him know how you felt about him?"

"Yeah." I tapped my feet nervously against the cavern floor. "I tried anyway. I told him he was a really nice guy."

"Oh." Travis nodded. "That translates to a guy as, 'I think you're a good friend, but not dating material'."

"What do you mean?" I blurted out. "I've always wanted a nice man to marry." I covered my mouth in shock. I couldn't believe I'd told him that.

"So that's the kind of woman you are." He laughed. "The rare type that looks for marriage potential before dating potential."

"Yeah so?" I crossed my arms.

"I do the same thing." Travis kicked his boot against the rock. "I've been looking for a hard-working lady who'll help me run the farm."

Now I wanted to leave, but the snow was still pouring outside. I wanted to tell him that I knew he was lying. Or even if he wasn't, I knew he wouldn't stay loyal. But most of all, I wanted to let him know, that I wasn't her. "Yeah well, maybe when you go home to Johto, you'll find her."

"You've got your heart set on this guy don't you?" He leaned in closer. "Shonna, if you chose to leave him, shouldn't you move on?" He took a deep breath, reaching out for my hand. I flinched as he touched it to me. "I could help you forget about him."

I jerked my hand out from under his. "I don't want to forget Travis. I don't ever want to forget him."

He let out a long sigh. "Somehow I've got to prove I'm worthy of you. I'll make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"If I win the Johto League, I'll come back for you and you'll go on a date with me."

I thought about this. Kyle told me he'd be competing in the Johto League. I'd seen Travis's pokemon and knew he wouldn't stand a chance if Kyle did compete. But, I didn't really know if he would, so it was risky. "I'll do you one better Travis. If you can even make it to the elite four I will."

"Yahoo!" He stood up, looking confident. "That's great!"

I stood up as well. The snow had lightened up for a minute, and I knew I had to act on it. I hopped onto Rapidash's back once more. "But if you don't make it, don't even bother coming back." I gently kicked Rapidash's side and we strode off into the snow. I didn't want to be there any longer, and I hoped that my harsh words had irked him enough to keep him from following me.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get that image out of my mind, of Riolu lying there in pain. "We can't stop Rapidash." After we crossed the lake, I kicked him again, making him speed up. The fires blazed on his back, enveloping me. He was using his newest move, Flare Blitz, to move quickly across the snow, melting anything in his path. "Good boy." I pat his mane, stroking my hand through the flames. "Let's do this!"

**x-x-x**

It felt like hours had past. Rapidash's Flare Blitz had burnt out a while back, and the snow had picked up. Nothing was visible around me other than mounds of snow. I pulled the hood up on my sweatshirt, but when I did, snow piled out onto my head. It was so cold. We were trotting along on the bridge to Sunyshore City, with forested areas on either side that were covered in snow.

I laid my head down on the back of Rapidash's neck, wrapping my arms around him. I was not feeling well anymore. I was struggling not to fall asleep. "This is useless Rapidash." I muttered, closing my eyes. "There's nothing alive out here. We'll never find any sitrus berries." I opened my eyes once more. My glasses were covered with snow, but through the drops and flakes on them, I could see some shape up on the hill. "What's that?" I lifted my head up to look at the shadow. It looked like a pokemon, staring back at me from atop the hill. When Rapidash crept a little closer, and I could see bright orange fur on the beast. It was an Arcanine, and it took off up the hill. "Wait!" I reached out with my hand, but it ran away. I kicked Rapidash gently, making him speed forward, and up the hill.

When we got to the top of the hill we were at the base of a dead forest. All the trees were barren, which made it all that much easier to see orange fur through one path in the forest. I made Rapidash follow close behind. As we began to catch up, I thought I saw someone riding on it. Someone I knew.

"I'm seeing things." I said, slowing Rapidash down a bit. "I'm losing it."

"Brr." Rapidash whinnied in a low tone.

"You're agreeing?" I chuckled a little. "Who cares. He never led me astray before. Rapidash! Follow them!"

He of course, had no idea what I was seeing, and it was obvious from the way he was moving. Even without reins on him, I was able to steer him in the direction of my hallucination. It leapt fallen logs and weaved between trees. My heart was pounding with every inch that we crept closer to them. Rapidash sped up, boosting into Flare Blitz once more. The Arcanine turned back to look at me, then sped forward in the dark forest. We were going so fast that dead tree branches began to fall around us. A couple of them smacked into my face, before being burnt into ash from the flames. The Arcanine and its shadowy trainer took one final look back as they raced through the forest. Rapidash screeched to a halt as the pokemon leaped off the edge of a cliff, fading out of view.

"Go! Go!" I screamed, not of my right mind. Rapidash made no move even when I kicked him hard in the side. He bucked me off, making me topple into the snow. I laid there for a while, not moving. "What am I doing?" I felt a tear well up in my eye. "He's not here." I laid my arm down in the stinging snow, pulling my fingers around it, crushing some. "He's not coming back for me!" I slammed a fist into the snow. I hated the way I must have looked right now. Like a squabbling toddler having a temper tantrum. But, I couldn't help but cry into my shirtsleeve. "Kyle… Kyle!" I felt my heart breaking with every second as his name echoed over the cliff side.

Rapidash licked at my face, making me regain some of my senses. I looked up at him, lifting my hand up to pet his head. He pushed his horn under my arm, trying to lift me up. "Brrr…"

"I'm sorry Rapidash." I pet his side. "Did I hurt you?"

He shook his head no, then jerked it up. I couldn't imagine what he was looking at in this dead forest. I lifted my head up slowly, to see the massive tree above me. It held a few green leaves, which was surprising enough. But what really made my eyes widen, was the dozen or so sitrus berries that sat limply on the branches.

**x-x-x**

Travis looked up from the path, seeing a sort of blue flare in the sky up ahead. His Rapidash looked up at the blue flames on the hill as well. It lit up the whitened, yet darkening sky.

"That's a flamethrower attack." Travis said, looking down at his Rapidash. "Give her a signal back."

His Rapidash eyed him strangely.

Travis laughed. "It's okay if it's not as strong."

Rapidash lifted his head, releasing balls of red embers into the sky.

"Good job." He kicked him gently. "Now let's go!"

**x-x-x**

"Guess that means he's on his way." I stood and watched as some fireballs lit up the sky, making a pink glow. I turned back to Rapidash. "Knock down some of those berries Rapidash!"

Rapidash raised up, getting ready to charge the tree. He rushed forward, slamming his sharp horn into the tree. One sitrus berry fell down.

"Keep it up Rapidash!" I knew he was tired, but I had to make him keep going for a while. "We have to help the other pokemon." He slammed into it again, knocking a few more berries down. I collected what I could and placed them into the item holder. As Rapidash slammed again, all the rest of the berries came down.

"Need any help there little lady?" A voice said as Travis and his red rapidash peeked their head around the other side of the tree. Both of our rapidashes removed their embedded horns from the trunk.

"Looks like you're already working on that." I glanced back up. "Do you see any more up there Travis?"

"Nope. Looks like we've got it covered." He smiled. "I can't believe you found this tree way out here! How did you do it?"

I now glanced over the side of the rocky cliff. "Guess it was just luck. Either that, or someone's looking out for me."

"I'm looking out for you!" He laughed, picking up the last of the berries, stuffing them in his item holder.

"Sure you are." I said with sarcasm.

"Hey come on." He grinned, pulling down on his hat. "We're friends, right?"

"Friends?" I smiled. "I'd have to be crazy to be friends with you."

He gave me a hurt look.

"But then again." I hopped back onto Rapidash's back. "I am pretty crazy."

"Hmph." He smirked, throwing his leg over his steed as well. "Of course you know we can't make it back to Solaceon. Not in this weather."

"What do you mean?" I brushed some snow out of my hair.

"We'll need to head on to Sunyshore for the night. We can stay at the pokecenter until this storm lays off. And," He tossed his item holder in the air. "With these, it'll be a cinch to send them back to the pokecenter." He took note of my displeased look. "You know that would be best. It's the quickest way of getting them there."

"But Riolu." I looked down, slowly riding down the hill. "I've never spent a night away from him. I want to be there for him."

Travis followed close behind through the forest. "Well unless you have an abra hidden or something, we're not going to be teleporting there." He looked down now at our horses. "Besides, these two are dog tired. They need a break."

"I know." I pat Rapidash's neck. "Sorry for working you so hard."

He craned his neck to look at me, but he seemed to be smiling.

**x-x-x**

The warmth from inside the pokemon center was almost intoxicating. Travis and I walked straight up to the front desk though, handing in our rapidash's pokeballs to be healed, and begging her to connect us with the Solaceon Town pokecenter.

"Sure." Joy said, placing the balls on a healer. She turned casually to the pc, dialing in a number.

"Please try to hurry!" I said impatiently.

"Here." Joy walked away as the videophone screen lit up with the Solaceon Town Nurse Joy.

"Shonna!" She yelled. "I'm so glad you both made it there safely!"

"Nurse Joy!" I held up the item holder. "We found some sitrus berries. What do we do to send them?"

"You actually found some? Hang on." She typed away feverishly. "I'm opening a link. Just put the balls in the slot."

Soon after, a tiny drawer popped out of the pc. I placed mine into a slot on it, and travis did likewise.

"That's right." Travis beamed. "Even in the dead of winter she found a good haul of sitrus berries." He looked down at me. "What a woman you are."

"I'm only fourteen." I reminded.

"Yet perfectly capable." He whispered. I wasn't sure what he meant by that.

Nurse Joy seemed oblivious to our conversation. "Alright. I'm receiving the berries now."

"Please Nurse Joy," I pleaded. "How are the other pokemon?"

Joy hung her head. "They took a turn for the worst. I thought for a while that the hoothoot you left here wasn't going to make it. But they've all pulled through so far."

"Pulled through?" My heart sunk. Things still sounded bleak. "Oh no. What will we do when the owners of those two pokemon come back for them?" I looked down. "They'll be so angry when they find out they're sick."

"Mary went back to the center for precisely that reason." Joy stood, holding the retrieved item holders in her hands. "I'm going to get to work on trying to lower their fevers. You two try and get some sleep." She clicked the call off.

"But wait!" I had wanted to ask about Riolu. "I hope he's okay." I turned, to see Travis hitting it off with the Nurse Joy here at Sunyshore. She swooned as he leaned over the counter, swinging a set of keys on his finger.

"Hmm." I groaned, rolling my eyes as I walked passed.

"Hey Shonna!" He called out from behind me. "Here." I turned, barely catching the key he tossed to me. "For your room." He smiled, and adjusted the bandana around his neck. "We'll head out bright and early tomorrow, kay?"

I nodded, heading down the hall.

Turning the corner, I found a room with the right number as my key. Normally pokemon centers had three types of rooms. One with one bunk bed, one with two sets for even more people, and now I found myself in the rare single bed room. I'd never actually seen one before. Even in Kanto, before I traveled with Kyle, there was always at least a bunk bed. Which made me think, that maybe it wasn't typically for trainers to travel alone.

And as I started to lock the door behind me, it hit me hard. "I am alone." I pulled up a chair, and stared out the window at the snow. "I don't even have any of my pokemon to keep me company. Rapidash is still resting in the healing machines, and the rest of them…" I held my hands together, and closed my eyes as the wind rattled the glass in the windows. "Please. Please let them be okay."

**x-x-x**

Dr. Pluto paced the floor in front of Cyrus's office. He'd been called there, no doubt on account of his forfeit of the pokerus mission. Cyrus scared him, but there was no way he was going to back down from this. He took a deep breath, brushed a wrinkled hand through his graying hair, and pounded on the door.

"Come in Pluto." A dark voice said from the intercom by the metal door. It slid open automatically, showing Cyrus, leaned against his desk.

"Cyrus. Sir." Pluto bowed before him politely. "You called?"

"I'm sure you know why you're here." Cyrus huffed, flipping on a television behind him. "Tell me Pluto, do you watch the news much?"

"The news sir?" Pluto glanced up, watching as a reporter began to speak.

"_Earlier, we spoke to a young man who runs the day-care center part time. He informed us that the deadly strain of pokerus discovered here, came from a chikorita dropped off by a suspicious man with green hair in a bob cut. Authorities in the neighboring city have pieced this information together and revealed that they believe this to be the work of a member of the elusive Team Galactic. If you have any leads on this case, or the identity of the man, please contact the Veilstone Police right away."_

Cyrus flipped the tv off and glared down at Pluto. "You stupid old man! Tell, me how long has Team Galactic been able to keep themselves hidden in this city?"

Pluto gulped at his reaction. "About twenty years sir."

"That's right." Cyrus stepped closer to him. "But you and I both know that our dream started long before that. Don't we?"

"Cyrus!" Pluto stepped back, feeling intimidated. "Please, how was I supposed to know? I didn't know the grunt would do something so foolish as to take the experiment to some day-care center. I don't know why he did such a thing."

"I don't either. That grunt should have burnt it with all the rest of the failed experiments." Cyrus glanced to the side. "I picked him up in that hick town though. He was a restless teen then who had nowhere to go, but desperate to get out of there. His family had abandoned him, but perhaps he still had some attachment to that town. Not that it matters much now. He won't be worrying about it anymore."

Pluto's eyes widened. "What did you do to him?"

Cyrus sneered. "It is of none of your concern. Instead, you should be considering your own welfare." He picked Pluto up by the collar of his lab coat, jerking him toward him. "You listen well Pluto. We're not friends anymore. You're my underling. Just like any of the rest of these poor fools working here. I'll allow you to ditch the pokerus mission, but if you're not careful, next time I'll exempt you of your entire schedule." His eyes narrowed as he tossed the old scientist down, into a heap on the floor. "You're no better than that incompetent, thieving Venus."

Pluto stood shakily, rushing to the door. "Don't talk about my wife like that Cyrus." He headed out, feeling lucky to have gotten in the last word.


	12. The Cure Arrives!

**x-x-x**

Episode 11: The Cure Arrives!

Nurse Joy stirred away at grinding up the Sitrus berries in a bowl. She was working alone here in the quarantined center. Without the Chansey roaming about, it was eerily quiet that morning. "But I'm glad I put them up." She said as she walked over to the window. "And I'm glad the infected ones finally got some sleep." The morning sun glistened on the foot of snow they'd gotten, making it almost impossible to see out, but there were two black figures, slowly approaching. Joy squinted, then smiled. "They're here!" She rushed out the door, waving to us.

"Howdy!" Travis hollered across the road to her. "We put the Rapidash up before we wandered into town! Too scared they'd catch the virus!"

"That's a good idea!" Nurse Joy yelled back as we got closer.

I bolted forward now, running clumsily through the thick snow. "How are the pokemon?"

"There's good news." She smiled, stirring away at a mushy substance in a bowl. "Come on in." We followed her inside the center, and she continued. "This holistic approach with the berries has really helped. Their fevers broke sometime last night."

"That is good news!" Travis said, taking off his hat and dusting the snow off.

"But that's not all." Joy turned around before we entered the recovery wing. "I got a call this morning from the research team in Jubilife. They believe they've found a cure!"

I smiled widely. "Are you serious?"

"Yes!" Joy opened the door. "I think the most trouble they're having now is finding someone to deliver it. Everyone's scared stiff to come here right now." She looked down with concern. "But they did say that someone agreed, and is on their way."

"That's great!" Travis yelled.

"Try to be quiet!" Joy shushed him. "The pokemon are sleeping."

"Whoops. Sorry." He said, looking bashful.

Inside, all the pokemon were indeed asleep, but they looked peaceful, and not in so much pain. I walked around to each one of my pokemon. Vaporeon and Pikachu stayed asleep. Butterfree looked like it wanted to jump up and fly, but lacked the energy. Instead, he smiled weakly at me. And then Riolu, saw me and tried to sit up.

"Stay down." I gently pushed him back down. "You need to rest. I know you're a tough guy, but you need to not overexert yourself, okay?"

"Lu." He closed his eyes, dozing off again. Then, a doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Travis said, heading off to the door.

"Travis!" Joy called. "If it's not the deliveryman with the medicine, don't let them in!"

Travis peered out the window and looked shocked all the sudden. "It's somebody with a big crate alright, but it ain't no man!" He pulled open the door, taking a wooden crate from the person outside. "A pretty thing like you shouldn't be carrying something so heavy!"

"Well thank you sir." A familiar voice said as her high heels clanged on the tile floor. Her long black coat was wrapped tightly around her, and her blonde hair hung wispily down her back, much further than mine did.

Joy took the medicine back and shoved me out of the room. "I need to work on administering these. I'll let you know when I'm done." Now, I stood in the lobby with Travis, and Cynthia.

"Shonna!" Cynthia ran up and hugged me. "I haven't seen you in ages! You haven't even bothered to drop by since you left for Kanto. You know me and Gran have missed you right?"

I returned her embrace. "Yes Cynthia. I know. Work has kept me busy. And now this." I looked up at her. "You're the delivery person?"

"That's right!" She straightened up. "I got word about this whole pokerus thing, and it peaked the researcher in me. I found out the team in Jubilife was drawing straws on who should bring it here, and I offered. I wasn't afraid to. Especially when I found out it mainly involved you." She looked down. "It's all over the tv you know. People are saying your day-care center is a sham, that kills pokemon."

"That's not true!" I retorted. "Some guy dumped all these problems on us!"

"I know." Cynthia nodded sadly. "But I'm worried now. For your business I mean."

"Well," I looked down now too. "We'll worry about that later. I want to thank you though, for delivering the medicine. But then again, I can expect no fear out of Sinnoh's champion right?" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

Travis, who had been quietly observing Cynthia, now spoke up. "Hold up! You're the champion of this region?"

"Yes?" Cynthia said, turning to him.

"Awesome." He smiled. "I'm headed back this evening to Johto, where I'm going to be competing in the league there."

"Oh?" She tilted her head a bit. "You're leaving? Even in the midst of all this tragedy?"

"Uh well." He backed up a bit. "I hate to leave ya'll. Especially when you're in such a bind, but my pa will be picking me up to take me to the airport tonight."

"It's no big deal." I crossed my arms. "I managed fine without him, and I will when he leaves too."

"Okay." Cynthia laughed. "You don't have to get so defensive."

Joy now emerged into the lobby. "That's the last of it, now we'll just have to wait a while and see. Shonna, Travis, there's something I forgot to tell you two."

"Yes?" We answered.

"Travis, I got a call from your mom this morning. She said as soon as you got back to head on home. Your family wants to spend some time with you before you leave."

"Well alright. But I'll be swinging by later to see how things went." Travis flipped his hat up onto his head and headed out. "Nice to meet you Cynthia." He winked at her before heading out.

"Good looking guy." Cynthia said, watching him leave.

"Please." I groaned.

"And Shonna!" Joy continued. "Mary also called from the day-care center. She said for you to come over there as soon as you could."

"Is it important?" I asked. I didn't really want to leave my pokemon again.

"She said she had something to tell you. It probably wouldn't take long." Joy glanced out the window, to the other side of the street.

"Fine." I walked out, with Cynthia behind me. She turned though, and headed up the road north, to Celestic Town.

"Shonna!" She called out. "I really have missed you around. Drop by okay?"

"Okay!" I waved as she took off on her Togekiss. "Thank you again!" I lowered my voice now to a whisper. "I don't know if I'll get the chance see you again for a while, but you sure are a good friend."

The sign on the door to the day-care center still said closed, but it was unlocked so I walked right in. There, Mary sat at the front desk, looking drained and defeated. "Oh, hello dear." She said sadly.

"Mary? What's wrong?" I leaned over the counter.

"Well, the owners of the hoothoot and gible came by and found out. One of them threatened lawsuit."

"They'll sue?" I was stunned. "But it wasn't our fault!"

"But, technically we are liable for them while they're under our care." Mary sulked. "I don't what's going to happen with that, but we've also been getting lots of hate calls. People saying we kill pokemon."

"That's terrible! How can people be so cruel?"

"I don't know what to do anymore. After all this, I don't think they'll be much hope of customers at the center, other than your pokemon that is." Mary looked down. "Nothing like this has ever happened. I'm worried. With John sick all the time, and this, I'm afraid I may have to close down the center, permanently."

"You can't say that!" I shouted.

"My! What an outburst." She grumbled. "There's nothing I can do about it Shonna, if we don't make enough money…"

"Then I'll put my money into it!" I clenched my fists together. "I didn't just lollygag in Kanto. I made a lot of money from battling, and I'll put it toward this center."

"Why?" Mary asked. "Why would you do that?"

I was nearly in tears, struggling to hold them back. "Because I left the greatest thing I had to come back to this place. I won't let you give up on it."

Mary didn't say anything for a while, then sighed. "Do whatever you want, but it won't be necessary for another month or so anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"We received one call this morning, from a young man who'd seen us on tv. He was insistent on placing a donation to help us out. I told him he didn't need to, but if he wanted, to send it through the PC system." Mary got up and pointed to the computer. "Check it for yourself. It's quite a large sum." She put on her hat, gloves and coat. "Do me a favor and put it in our account Shonna? And lock the door on your way out?" She headed out into the snow, probably headed back home.

I sat down at the pc, pulling up the screen to open the transaction. "A donation huh?" My eyes rolled over the numbers, then had to do a double take. "One million dollars? One million?" My eyes felt as wide as saucers. "Who on Earth gave one million?" I read carefully to where the depositing pc was. It came from a pc in the pokemon center of Goldenrod City, in the Johto region.

My heart jumped. "That's a crazy idea." I scooted my chair out, convinced of the coincidence, then scooted it back in, hitting a redial number for that pc. A perky Nurse Joy answered on the other end.

"Goldenrod City Pokemon Center, how can I help you?"

"Nurse Joy." I glanced down at the keyboard. "This may sound crazy, but I need to know who has used the lobby pc there this morning. I'm trying to find out something important."

"Well, that's not private information. I suppose I can tell you."

"Did you, happen to see a guy there, with brown hair, with hints of red in it? And green eyes? With glasses?"

"Well yes." She put a finger to her chin. "I remember someone fitting that description."

My heart skipped a beat once more.

"Hang on. I'll check the log on who's used this computer. But all I can tell you is their name."

"Okay." I waited a minute as she typed away at something. A paper printed nearby her, and she read it aloud.

"There's two listings for this morning. The first has just one name. Conner."

"Conner?" I sighed. "Never heard of him." I felt a bit of relief.

"The second, says Kyle Gray."

Now, my heart must have stopped for a second. At least, it felt like it did.

"Does that help you in any way miss?"

"Please!" I nearly attacked the computer screen. "Is he still there Nurse Joy? Can I speak to him? Please?"

Nurse Joy jerked back a bit. "No I'm sorry. I remember him now. The pokemon master. He left at the crack of dawn."

Pain shot through me. I laid my head down on the keyboard, making a bunch of weird commands pop up on the screen.

"Is there anything else I can do for you miss?"

"No thank you." I said, reaching for the end call button.

**x-x-x**

Later that evening, the sun was setting, and everyone was gathered by the road to see Travis off. I kicked a chunk of ice as he walked around to his family and friends here, and a few of the local girls who were falling all over him, begging him to not leave town. I leaned up against the side of the pokemon center, trying to block them out. I was still distraught by my discovery earlier that morning.

"I must have just missed him." I muttered.

"What was that Shonna?" Travis grinned as he walked over to me. "Did you say you'll miss me?"

"I wasn't even talking about you!" I said, feeling frustrated with him. "Go back to flirting with your goodbye party of fans."

He laughed. "The girls here sure are welcoming. Makes me not want to leave. I feel like a real star here. But you know, they're not near as pretty as you."

I noticed him staring at my chest and crossed my arms. "I really can't wait until you leave."

"Aw. That hurt." He said with a smile. "But don't forget, we have a deal."

I glared at him as Nurse Joy rounded the corner.

"Shonna!" She called. "Come in here quickly!"

I happily did so, and was glad when Travis didn't come striding behind. "What's wrong Nurse Joy? Is it the pokemon?"

"See for yourself." She smiled, opening the door to where they were staying.

"Lu lu." Riolu was sitting up, wide awake and smiling at me.

"Riolu!" I ran up to him, holding his paws in my hands. "Are you feeling better?"

"Lu!" He nodded.

"Por!" I turned, to see Vaporeon on the ground, rubbing against me. Pikachu jumped to my shoulder from her bed, licking at my face, and Butterfree, weakly but happily floated around me.

"You guys are all better?" I pet them all as they huddled around me. "I'm so happy!"

"They still need a lot of rest. I would recommend time in their pokeballs for most of them." Joy said. "But they're going to be just fine. They've made a great recovery, and your other pokemon. I've been monitoring show no signs of having contracted the virus."

"So, they're cured of it?" I asked. "I can let them be around the other pokemon?"

"It looks like all the pokerus lifeforms have died out of them, but you may want to wait a day or two, just to be safe."

"I'll do that." I held up everyone's pokeballs, with the exception of Riolu's. "Return everyone." With that, only Riolu and the two visiting pokemon were left in the room.

Joy watched me look to them. "I'll call their owners and tell them they can swing by to pick them up."

"Thank you." I said, holding my head down. As I picked Riolu up, a loud honking noise jostled me. I peered out the window to see a muddy pickup truck pull into view, trudging through the thick snow.

"That must be Travis's dad." Joy said. I made no move, and she sighed. "C'mon. At least go tell him goodbye."

"Fine." I held Riolu close over me as I walked out. Travis was standing just where I'd left him.

"Are they alright?" He asked, looking down at Riolu.

"They're all better."

"That's great news. Now I don't feel so bad about leaving." He smiled.

I nodded, cradling Riolu in my arms. He looked up at me still somewhat sleepily. I thought to myself how much I missed him, even for the short amount of time we were apart.

"So." Travis said, leaning in closer. "I'm going back home to Johto, for the league. I'm gonna' fight for ya."

"Yep." I nodded once more.

"Aren't you even going to wish me good luck?"

"You'll need it."

"How about a goodbye kiss?"

I glared up at him as the truck honked once more. A man who looked a lot like Travis, only older, stuck his head out the window.

"Hey!" He yelled. "C'mon kid! I ain't got all day to sit here and wait on your flirtin'!"

"Coming!" Travis called back. He smiled at me, pushed his hat up on his head, and turned on his boots. "And I'm gonna win Shonna. Just you wait and see. You watch me on the tv. Be rooting for me!"

"I'll be cheering." I said as he walked off and hopped into the truck. It sped off down the hill, to who knows where. "For Kyle that is."

"What'd you say babe?" Stephen slinked his way over from his family to stand beside me. I didn't answer him. In fact, I was struggling not to punch him in the face. "Hey babe." Stephen waved a hand in front of my face. Again, I made no reply. "Boy. I'm glad bro's gone. I mean, I love him and all, but he was encroaching on my territory, ya know?" He reached his arm around me, but I jumped back, almost making him fall.

"You idiot!" I screamed, making his family turn. "You really think I want anything to do with you after what you did? You nearly killed all my pokemon!"

"Whoa calm down!" He held up his hands up defensively. "It was an accident."

"I've already talked with Mary by the way." I crossed my arms, with Riolu still cradled in them. "She's all but given up on the center. She's releasing its care to me."

"Uh…" He looked confused. "Is that good?"

"Yes." I smiled. "Because my first order of business, is firing you Stephen." I turned, headed up the hill, avoiding his family's stares. "So don't bother coming in tomorrow!"


	13. The Party Plan!

**x-x-x**

Episode 12: The Party Plan!

_Month 7 - February_

"I'm sorry Shonna." Mary said haggardly over the phone. "I won't be able to come in today either. John's gotten worse, and I'm not feeling well myself."

"It's fine Mary." I said, staring back into the videophone screen. "I've got it covered."

"But Shonna. You've been taking care of it by yourself all week this week."

"I'm doing fine."

"Tell me the truth, how's the finances?"

"We're running low on the fund from that donation, but I still have some saved back that I'll be putting in." I sat my hands in my lap, looking down.

"Really dear. This is too much for you. You're only fourteen. Just let us close down the place and try and get what we can from it."

"No!" I screamed. "I'm not doing that."

"You really have stepped up Shonna, I'm very impressed, but I really don't think…"

"As I said, I've got it covered." I clicked the call off, and scooted away from the desk. I sighed quietly, then got up to walk out to the field. I didn't carry the clipboard anymore. I knew the only pokemon that were out there, were my own. And as I walked out there, they all stood patiently, awaiting a pokekibble meal. I headed into the shed, groaning as I lifted the heavy bag over to their bowls. Rapidash walked over and made the job easier on me by poking a hole in the bag with his long horn. I lumbered the bag over to each bowl, letting the bag drain out. Each pokemon happily ate on the ground beside each other, and while I threw away the empty bag, I took a minute to look around.

I'd spent the majority of the money on getting the barn, and the rest of the center, thoroughly cleaned. Nurse Joy insisted that pokerus couldn't last more than 48 hours, but I wasn't taking any chances. I also thought that having the place sanitized by a professional crew might appease the town, but so far the day care center's reputation had remained unchanged. Even though we'd managed to cure every pokemon, get rid of the virus, and basically fix everything, no one came.

I looked over the fence, to see two girls walking into town. They obviously weren't from around here. I could tell that by the way they were dressed, and just the fact that everyone knows everyone here. I dusted off my overalls, and walked over to the fence line.

"Excuse me!" I called out. "Are you two trainers?"

"Yeah?" One of them answered.

"Well, how would you like to take some time to see the sights? You could leave your pokemon here for a while. The first hour is free."

The girls stared at me shadily. "No way. We've heard about this place. They kill pokemon!"

I scoffed at their stupidity. "Now now. You girls are smart enough not to listen to silly rumors, right?"

"Loser!" One of the girls stuck out their tongue, and the pair took off down the road.

"Hmph." I laid my head down on the fence. "Travis could have got them. But oh well." I raised up, walking over to Riolu, who'd just finished his meal. "It's just us now, but we can do it."

"Lu!" He nodded, climbing up to my shoulder.

"Maybe I could throw another party! Word spreads fast around here. I'll make signs and poffins and stuff!"

"Lu!" Riolu pointed to a big wooden board that no one was using. It was old piece of the stable that had fallen off and been replaced years ago.

"Yeah! Perfect!" I grabbed the board, laying it flat on the ground. "Any of you guys want to help me with this sign?" I ran in grabbing various sized paint brushes and a can of white paint. All of my pokemon eagerly awaited outside. "You guys aren't smeargles, but I bet you can paint!" I handed Rapidash and Vaporeon a brush to hold in their mouths, and the others in their paws. Pikachu, Butterfree and Riolu stared at the objects curiously. "Here's what you do." I opened up the can, making the paint splatter on my overalls. "Just dip it in here, and then…" I smeared a glob of white paint across the splintery board. Their eyes widened as the grayed out board turned white. They all looked excited. "Try not to get it on you though! Or it'll mean a bath from Vaporeon!" I laughed as Rapidash nervously backed up.

"Brr." He dropped the paint brush.

"It's okay Rapidash!" I stroked his mane. "You can help me get it set up later." I watched as all the pokemon happily began painting away. "You guys are great! I'm going to go fix some poffins to celebrate with, kay?"

They all cheered in response as I walked inside.

"This will work. If I can just get people to come in, and see how much we care about pokemon…" I got to work on the poffins, making as many as I could with the small kitchen area we had in the center.

**x-x-x**

It was getting later in the day, and I'd just finished the last batch of poffins, and sitting out some chips and dip when I heard him cry in pain.

"Luuuuu!"

"Riolu!" I dropped everything and ran outside, to find him sitting on the ground with tears in his eyes. He was clutching his right paw tight against him. "What happened?" I scooped him up, but all I could see was paint on his paws. "Vaporeon! Wash his paws off please!"

"Por!" She squirted water gently on his blue paws, washing it away to reveal a large splinter in the right one.

"Did you try to paint with your paws Riolu?" I carried him inside as he continued to wail. "That's why I gave you a brush silly boy." I grabbed some tweezers and held them to his paw. "Now hold really still okay?"

"Luu!" He squirmed as I started to grab the splinter.

"Riolu." I held him up, trying to be calm. "I won't be able to get it out if you move."

"Lu…lu." He sniffled, holding the paw out. I plucked the splinter out, making him wince.

"What a strong boy!" I inspected his paw, making sure no stray pieces were left, and tossed him up, making him laugh. "Is that better?"

"Lu lu!" He wrapped his skinny arms around my neck, thanking me.

I put a bandage on his paw, and handed him a small basket of poffins. "Do you feel like giving these out to the others? There's one for each of you."

"Lu!" He grabbed the basket and leaped through the tiny pokemon door. I followed him out to the field, where all the pokemon were happily eating their treats, with the exception of Rapidash, who spat it out with distaste.

"I'm got to work on adding something for a quiet natured type like you Rapidash. But it looks like I'm close to perfect on my recipe you'll all like." I smiled, trying to lift the sign up. Rapidash pushed his head against it, helping me raise it over the fence. "There." I propped it up, and grabbed some different paints. "You guys did great on this! I only hope I can do as well with the lettering." I worked away while they ate, adding painted balloons and confetti.

"Free!" Butterfree floated up behind me, landing his huge feet on my shoulders.

"Don't make me mess up!" I laughed.

"Pikapi." Pikachu was cautiously looking Riolu's paw over as he grinned in way that said. 'It didn't hurt one bit!'

"I hope this works. It's just got to."

**x-x-x**

Hours later, I sat at the front desk, shoving a chip down my throat. I glanced over at Riolu, who'd been sneaking himself a poffin every 30 minutes or so. The place was as empty as could be, and I couldn't figure out why. Even with all the rumors, if you put up a sign that says there's free food in this town, someone comes. Let alone free food for pokemon too.

"Some party this is." I grumbled.

"Lu." Riolu reached his paw over sneakily for another poffin. When I looked back at him, he jerked it back innocently.

A knock on the door made me jump up and smile. "A customer!" I rushed over to get the door, though it was unlocked. When I opened it, my smile quickly faded. "Stephen? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I umm…" He smoothed down his football jersey nervously.

"If this is about me firing you, I haven't changed my mind. Sorry."

"It's not that." He said quickly. "I heard this place was sinking fast. So I don't want to work here."

I crossed my arms, leaning in the doorway. "Then what? Did you come here to scrounge on some of the chips?"

"Huh?" He glanced over to my hand-painted sign. "Oh. No. I didn't even know about that."

I sighed. "Then why are you here?"

"I came to ask you, if you wanted to go out for a while. Sheena Mcgreggor's back in town, and she's having a huge party tonight at her folk's barn. The whole town's gonna be there."

"Sheena?" I laughed. "If it's Sheena, then I highly doubt I'm invited."

"Well I'm inviting you." He stood up a little straighter. "As my date."

My eyes narrowed at him. "Persistence must run in your family." Then it occurred to me, the reason why no one was here at all. That stupid party Sheena was having, must have overshadowed my pitiful excuse by a long shot. I clenched my fists as I imagined the whole town, square dancing in their barn with live music and catering. I didn't doubt for one minute, that she hadn't heard of my party and decided to throw her own.

"C'mon Shonna." He held his hand out. "You work all the time. Get out, have some fun tonight."

"No. I've got a job to do."

"You're still young." He frowned now. "But if you keep this up, you're going to turn into an old hag and rot away with this place."

"I hate that girl. And I hate you!" I slammed the door in Stephen's face, and leaned up against it, eventually sliding down to the floor. I wrapped my arms around my knees, laying my head down and crying. "So what if I turn into some old spinster? This is what I chose to do. And I'm going to follow through on it." I lifted my head, spying Riolu sitting sadly at my feet. "If I can't, then I should have never left him…" I stood up, walking over to the counter, sitting at the chair. "Actually, I should have never left him anyway." I pushed aside some bills with my hand, looking down at today's Pokemon New Press. The article on the front page was on multi-environment rooms, and I found myself reading it.

"Most commonly seen at pokemon research laboratories and some high end resorts, these special rooms create a highly believable illusion of any desired environment, so that any pokemon can feel at home in the room. If you want a desert, you can have it. If you want an icy cavern, you could have that too. All at the switch of a simple knob. The most notable of these rooms can be found at the pokemon research lab in Kanto. They have a room with over twenty different environments that can be enabled." I read aloud. "This sounds really neat!" I looked over to Riolu as he climbed up to look at the paper curiously. "Do you guys ever get bored with the field? I know most pokemon adapt well to forested areas, but if we had one of these, every kind of pokemon could be happy here."

"Lu?" Riolu tilted his head at me.

I carefully dialed a number on the paper for the research lab in Kanto. A receptionist picked up. "Hello." I answered. "I'd like some more information on your multi-environment room."

"Oh yes." She smiled. "The one here in the Cinnabar lab is quite advanced."

"Do you all install those for anyone?"

"Well, I know we have in the past for some special hotels and resorts around here."

"About how much does one of those cost?"

"Oh I don't know exactly." She held a finger to her chin. "If I had to guess, three million?"

"Three million?" My jaw dropped. "I guess I should have expected that."

"Were you trying to purchase one?" The lady chuckled.

"Yes!" I said confidently. "Would it be possible to send over some guys to install it in Sinnoh?"

"I guess anything's possible with enough money." She shrugged.

"Thank you. I'll call back when I'm ready." I smiled, ending the call. "It's decided Riolu." I held my head high. "I'm going to try and save up to get one of those rooms."

"Lu." He looked a bit skeptic.

"I still have two million saved up from Kanto." I mused. "So that leaves one million roughly."

"Lu!" Riolu looked shocked.

"Don't look so surprised." I laughed. "It's not like I ever spend money on myself, so of course I have a lot. I was planning on using it to support the center, but if I put it to this..." I held the newspaper up once more. "With this, I might be able to revive this place!"


	14. Making Business Boom!

**x-x-x**

Episode 13: Making Business Boom!

_Month 8 - March_

For the past month, I'd barely been able to rest. I spent every waking moment trying to make some money. I battled literally every trainer that came into town, and was amazed to find I won 90% of the battles. That made the brunt of my money, but on the side, I sold boxes of my poffins to the local pokemart and any passersby. I told mom that I was staying out late cleaning up the day-care center, but the truth was that I was battling trainers that came through at night. I wasn't getting much sleep, but I was bringing in the cash.

"One million." I transferred it into my account through the pc, bringing my grand total to three. "We did it Riolu!" I held my hand up, and he happily gave me a high five.

"Lu!" He bounced up and down with excitement.

"You and the other pokemon have been so great! How about a batch of poffins to celebrate?"

"Lu lu lu!" Riolu bounced even more eagerly now.

"Okay okay!" I got up, to go fix a batch by the kitchen area of the center. As soon as I got them in the oven, I ran back over to the pc. "Now time to turn this place around!" I was so excited when I dialed the number, that I messed up and had to retype it. When it went through, a new receptionist answered.

"Cinnabar Research Labs. How can I help you?"

"Yes! I called a while back, about ordering a multi-environment room like the one you all have. I'm ready to do so now."

"Pardon?" The woman looked back at me strangely on the screen. "Umm… I think I'd better contact you with the one in charge. She'd no more about that than me."

"Oh okay." I waited a minute as the call was put on hold. Then, a woman with frizzy blond hair and glasses answered. She looked different, but I gasped when I recognized her. She was Kyle's mother. I knew he'd told me she was the head honcho of a research lab, but it hadn't clicked with me until now. I looked down, wondering if she recognized me from the one time we'd met.

"Well? What do you want?" She barked.

"Umm… I was interested in purchasing a multi-environment room, like you all have. I was told a month ago that if I paid three million, I could have one installed."

Mrs. Gray laughed at me. "What nitwit told you that?"

"What?" I looked up now. "Someone who works there."

"Well I'm sure that they are long since fired." She scoffed. "A better estimate would be over five million. And even so, there's no way we'd install one for just anyone."

"Please. I need this for our day-care center in Sinnoh!"

"Sinnoh?" She raised an eyebrow. "You're stupid if you thought we'd take the time and materials to go over there."

My heart sunk as I realized she wasn't going to give in. "I see. So if I may ask, have you heard any word from your son?"

"What does he have to do with anything?" She obviously didn't remember me at all.

"Just wondering."

"You think I hear from him? The good for nothing. I don't have time to chit chat with you." She hung up the phone abruptly.

The computer beeped a couple times, letting me know the call was cancelled. I just stared at the screen blankly while Riolu crept to my side.

"Well. That idea's out. What will I do now Riolu?" I laid my head in my hands, feeling drained. "I just don't know what else to do." The timer went off on the poffins, and I walked over to the kitchen, pulling them out. I walked outside, and gave one to each pokemon, even though Rapidash still didn't eat his. I walked back inside, to find a man walking through the door.

"Shonna! Hello again!"

"Mr. Johnson?" I watched as his Venonat crawled out from behind his legs. "What can I do for you?"

"Well now, I know I was here last week too, but my Venonat's just been begging for another of them there poffins."

"Sure Mr. Johnson." I reached around and handed one to the Venonat, who devoured it happily. "I just made a new batch after all."

"My little Venonat loves those. Don't you Natty?" He picked his Venonat up happily. "I swear I think those things have made her even better at catching those wiry mightyena and houndoom that sneak in to have a nip at the miltank. She's spotted three in the past few nights! Here ya go Shonna." He handed me a five dollar bill.

"They're only a dollar for a single." I protested.

"Well then keep it for next time." He smiled, holding open the door. "Cause you can bet we'll be back for more next week."

"Okay." I waved as he walked out. "Hmm." Just as soon as I turned around, another ring went off from above the door. I turned, to see a young boy, this time one who didn't seem to be from around here. He was holding a Marill in his arms. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah." He answered. "I just stopped by the pokemart here. I was looking for poffins. I heard a rumor that they sell some in this town that almost every pokemon likes! But they were sold out, so the lady told me that you sell them here."

"Marill!" Marill's tail bobbed around.

"We're competing in a contest soon." The boy said. "I want to get a bunch so Marill can be really happy and ready!"

"Well," I was somewhat dumbfounded by first the fact that the pokemart was sold out of my poffins, and second, that this boy had traveled from who knows where to get them. "They are ten dollars for a dozen, or one for a single."

"I'll take a dozen!" He said, throwing a bill on the counter. I took it, and handed him a box of the last of my poffins.

"I sure am glad I made extras." I smiled.

"Here Marill!" The boy handed the mouse pokemon one from the box, and it chewed away at it.

"Mar-ill!" Marill's eyes lit up as it ate away at the poffin.

"Thanks so much!" The boy waved as he ran out.

"Wow." I looked down at Riolu, who was searching for crumbs. "You know what Riolu? I have one more idea."

**x-x-x**

Exactly one week later, I hummed to myself as I cooked away at the last batch of poffins I'd made. I relished in the fact that I'd found just a dash of pumpkin pie spice pleased my Rapidash, and didn't seem to affect the taste for the other pokemon as well. I boxed up the last batch, and left Pikachu to watch Riolu and make sure he didn't sneak any.

I walked outside, adjusting steamers around my new sign that said, "Poffin party! Tonight!". Attaching a red balloon to it, I took a look around. I had a lot planned for the night. I was wearing one of my nicer outfits just for the occasion. I'd used some of what I had saved back, especially for it. No live music, but I'd rigged up speakers to play. I'd cleaned up the field, added tables, chairs, benches, and mom helped me get together plenty of food and drinks.

I had to hand it to her, because she'd also made sure it was mentioned in this week's paper. I smiled to her as she set out a bowl of punch. She'd outdone herself for me today. She'd even taken off work.

I adjusted one final streamer, and watched in the corner of my eye as a certain sleazy member of town snuck by me. She thought she'd walked by unnoticed, but I turned around to wave at her.

"Sheena! Hello!"

"Umm… hi." She said with a smirk. "Throwing some pitifully lame party again Shonna?"

"Yep." I nodded. "How about you? Square dancing again?"

"You bet. In just 30 minutes." She grinned. "I've got to go get ready. Stephen's going to be there." I think she thought this would bother me.

"You all have fun." I smiled.

"Thanks." She said, looking a little troubled by my lack of pity. She walked off unsatisfied.

"Now," I crept inside, grabbing Riolu and Pikachu in each arm. "Time to put our plan into action."

"Pi!"

"Lu!" They both nodded, looking ready to go.

I ran out to the field, rigging up a wagon to Rapidash. I carefully loaded every box of poffins I could fit into it. "See you soon mom!"

"Okay dear! I'll be watching things here." She winked.

I hopped up onto the wagon with my pokemon, and flicking the reins gently. I looked down to Pikachu and Riolu as we rode along. "Now remember Riolu, no eating them. You'll have plenty later." I glanced up to the road. "Okay you two. When I give the signal, you know what to do."

**x-x-x**

I watched from behind the barn doors as the party started. A band was playing some country song I despised, and as expected, the whole town had turned out for her event. She had some ritzy little hor'dourves sat out that no one was touching. I found it odd that a country girl like her thought everyone here liked fancy food like her. She would have been better off with fried chicken.

I also took note to the fact that at least half the people there were pokemon trainers, who had pokeballs affixed to them. I peeked around the side to also see a field full of the McGreggor miltank and tauros.

"Perfect." I whispered, as the band's song quieted.

"And now!" The lead singer of the band blared into his microphone. "Here's the special lady of the night! Sheena McGreggor."

"Thank you! Thank you!" She came out on stage in a revealing sequin dress. I noticed Stephen hiding behind the curtain, and wondered if she wouldn't allow him to come up on stage with her.

"Now!" I turned around to my parked wagon, throwing my hand up for Pikachu and Riolu to see. They set to work immediately, opening the boxes one by one. I turned back around to see that every tauros and miltank on the property, had their noses raised to the air. I leaped up onto the wagon, watching as pokeballs from inside the barn began to flash red and open. Within seconds, all kinds of pokemon were stampeding toward me.

"Hey!" I heard Sheena yell over the microphone. "What's going on?"

Soon, people began piling out to see why their pokemon had escaped their pokeballs. I tossed poffins to the impatient pokemon as Sheena and Stephen crept out toward the back of the group.

"What is this?" Sheena screamed. "Daddy! Where's daddy? The miltank and tauros are running around out here! They're ruining my party!"

"What are those?" A young woman asked when her pokemon inhaled my poffin.

"It's a poffin ma'am." I said politely.

"Poffins. I've heard about those!" Someone said.

"Yeah! They're all the rage right now in Sinnoh!"

"That's so cool! And look! All the pokemon love them!"

"Did you make those?"

"I did." I yelled over the crowd. "And there's plenty more at the day-care center. I'm having a poffin party today, so if any of you would like to treat your pokemon, come with me!" I turned the wagon, making the drooling pokemon follow without hesitation.

"Yeah! That sounds like fun!" Someone said.

"Let's do that! Our pokemon deserve something special!"

"Yeah! I remember reading about that in the paper now! Let's go!"

"Hold on!" Sheena yelled. "What about me?"

Stephen laughed loudly, following the crowd. "She's so hot."

"Wait! Where are you going?" Sheena screamed. "Daddy!"

Her protesting was in vain. Somehow, I'd managed to wrangle the whole town back over to the day-care center, where the poffin party was a huge success. I had several people say it was the most fun they'd had in a while, and that they were glad their pokemon could get out and enjoy the evening as well. I'd gained quiet a few fans in the new pokemon. And after that, the day-care center had no problem keeping customers, as long as I had my poffins on hand. Mary resumed ownership, and hired Stephen back against my wishes, but I didn't really care. I was just happy I could bring the business back from the brink. Though it did surprise me when Mary confronted me one morning, and said she and John had decided to leave the center in their will, to me.


	15. The Battle For My Heart!

**A/N: This very short chapter is more like an epilogue. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this story! Please continue on to Part 3, Shonna in Sinnoh!**

**x-x-x**

Episode 14: The Battle For My Heart!

_Month 12 - July_

I pulled my long hair behind me as I flopped on the couch in the living room. Business had picked up so well now, I was able to take a day off during the week. I reached for the television remote, flipping on the tv. Riolu slid down the couch to rest in my lap. Duchess took one side of the couch beside me, and Delcatty took the other. I nearly choked on my bottle of water when I heard the announcer make his speech.

"_That's right folks! You're tuning in for one of the greatest league championship's we've seen! The Johto League! We're now well into the games, and have seen a couple very interesting battles! But here comes one you won't want to miss! A battle between the cowboy casanova from our own Olivine City, against a previous league champion from Kanto! Let's watch this battle get underway! Now fighting, Travis Hester vs. Kyle Gray!"_

I leaned forward unconsciously as the screen panned to the trainers entering the stadium. I watched as they first showed Travis, looking headstrong on the field, and the other trainer was inching his way out of the shadows. I could see his lean figure, making his way into the stadium, when…

Mom flopped down on the couch, nearly crushing Delcatty. He huffed off as she grabbed the remote away from me and flipped the channel. "Oh thank goodness! I thought for a minute I was going to miss my soap."

My jaw dropped as an actor and actress began wildly making out on the screen.

"Oh sorry." Mom glanced over at me. "Were you watching that?"

"No. Not really." I picked Riolu up and headed for my room. I flopped down on the bed, letting Riolu crawl away. "Wow. Those two are actually fighting each other." I smiled. "I'm just so happy Kyle. I've prayed that you were okay. It's so good to know you're doing well, and made it to the league." I reached for the Teddiursa doll beside me, hugging it tight. "As far as the battle for my heart goes, you've already won." I looked over to Riolu. "Do you think I'll ever seen him again?"

"Lu?" Riolu tilted his head at me.

"You're probably right. It's just a crazy dream." I held the teddy bear out away from me. "But, I can dream, right?"


End file.
